By Jeff Copper, MBA, PCC, PCAC, CPCC, ACG – January 20, 2025
Heading to college can be tough for students with ADHD and keeping in touch as a parent can pose some challenges, too! I had a talk with Rob Tudisco, former president of Edge Foundation, to talk about the struggles of students with ADHD as they go off to college.
After a student reaches the age of 18 years, the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) puts limits on parents being able to view their child’s records without consent. Parents need to be aware that they can have their child sign a permission form for sharing information. This does not mean that parents will automatically get updates but, rather, that they need to seek out information, Schools and colleges won’t necessarily reach out if there aren’t any concerns.
Lots of parents get surprised by issues that come up because students might not reach out for help or talk openly about their difficulties. If you have a child preparing for college, please talk to your child before they head off to college and discuss what you expect from them insofar as communications are concerned to be sure they understand their responsibility to seek assistance, whether from the parents or from college services. Even if your child chooses not to sign a waiver form, it’s important that you be informed about what lies ahead so you can help avoid challenges during periods of stress or worry.
If parents are well informed and take these steps, it can truly make a difference in preventing academic challenges for their child’s education and learning experiences. Though it may not address all concerns perfectly every time around the calendar year, having a thoughtful strategy in place certainly can help parents and students to establish an environment for a successful start to the school year.
To learn more, please watch my video interview with Rob Tudisco, “ADHD Tip for College Parents: Stay in the Communication Loop.”
TRANSCRIPT:
Jeff Copper: Welcome everybody to this edition of Attention Talk Video. I’m your host, attention coach Jeff Copper, and I’m here with Rob Tudisco. Rob, welcome to the show.
Rob Tudisco: Thanks for having me, Jeff.
Jeff Copper: It’s my pleasure. Rob is the president, or heads up, the executive director of the Edge Foundation.
Rob Tudisco: Yes, I am.
Jeff Copper: So, let’s get that right. The Edge Foundation is doing a lot of work trying to get coaches out there to help college students, and as somebody in the ADHD community, we applaud you for that. It’s not just getting coaches in the hands, but actually raising money and trying to get coaches into the hands of the people who might not be able to afford it. And so part of this video and a few others that we’ll do is actually we want to highlight some of the things that parents and students should be aware of when they go to college. Some of these things are very, very subtle and it’s helpful if you know them in advance. And one of those is when your adolescent turns 18, they’re an adult at that point in time and you’re out of the communications loop. And that goes to colleges as well. Can you speak to that?
Rob Tudisco: Sure. Under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, once a student goes on to post-secondary education or college, or they turn 18, they own the right to their own information at school and their parents do not have access to that. In fact, the school cannot divulge that information to parents. And there are ways around it, and probably the best way to do it is to be proactive and discuss this with your child and have them sign a waiver. But parents also need to know that even if you file that waiver, it’s not like it was when they were in high school where the school would call you and tell you if there was a problem. All that waiver does is give the school the ability to talk to you, but you still have to make the inquiries and you still have to be proactive. And that’s what’s important for parents to know.
Jeff Copper: And we’ve had some conversations before. As a coach, I get calls in December and over the summer, right after they get done with the semester, students… Let me back up. So a student goes in first year of college and they get through the first semester, and I’m in Tampa, so I get calls from parents either with their kids going to University of Tampa and University of South Florida, or in the area, and it’s a surprise to them. They didn’t necessarily know what’s going on. And again, we’re doing the show is that you’re not in the communications loop, number one. Number two is if you can get them to sign the waiver to do that, you need to go get that information because it’s not necessarily going to come to you. And particularly that first semester and after that is actually one of the most challenging times and transition for those students and that’s why it’s important to stay in that loop.
Rob Tudisco: Yeah, it’s important to start this process and initiate it before they go into their first year of college if you can, because these kids, by November, if they get a bad grade on a midterm or a final, a lot of them don’t get any feedback until it’s too late. And you don’t want to play catch-up at that point because that whole semester could be gone. So it’s really important to proactively go in and understanding what your roles are, have that conversation with your son or daughter, understand what your role is going to be. And even if they say no, at least you’re not shocked when you go to make an inquiry and you find out during a crisis that you can’t get any information. Again, like I say a lot, Jeff, this is not going to necessarily eliminate all of the problems, but it can really mean the difference between being chased through a minefield blindfolded versus walking through with a map in your hand, so at least you know what you’re up against.
Jeff Copper: I love the minefield analogy. It’s always really good. For our viewers out there. If you want to learn more about Rob and the Edge Foundation, just go to EdgeFoundation.org?
Rob Tudisco: That is correct, yes.
Jeff Copper: Well, Rob, thank you very much for coming on the show.
Rob Tudisco: Thank you for having me.