September 2016 

To Whom It May Concern:

 This letter is in regards to my work as a certified ADHD coach with [Student Name,] at the request of her mother, [Mom’s Name.] I began working with Student at the conclusion of last school year. We are now meeting three times a month during this new school year. Overall, my assessment is that Student is that she is a bright, articulate, and competent young lady. Most of her struggles seem to come from some remaining attentional issues, organizational weaknesses, and the challenges that her dyslexia presents.

 It is my understanding that, unlike public schools, your structure doesn’t support formalized accommodations such as IEPs and 504s. However, Student has shared with me some ways in which her teachers last year were fantastically accommodating and really helped her to succeed. As Student is my first student from [Private School Name,] I’m excited that she is in an environment that is wiling to make the accommodations that she needs, even if they are individualized and not systematic. I have no doubt that with the right help now Student will become even more independent and will be very successful in high school and beyond.

 In that vane, I have some suggestions that may help your faculty and staff to help Student. The primary reason for this letter is to support her use of a chrome book (or other comparable laptop) instead of an iPad. The combination of Student’s ADHD, dyslexia, and just how her brain works makes the use of the iPad particularly difficult for her. A chrome book with a keyboard, cursor, and larger screen will make it much easier for her to access the material.

 Based on my last session with Student, I would also ask if there is flexibility and availability to offer her a second set of textbooks? This is a relatively standard accommodation in many public school settings when the inventory of books is sufficient. This would help Student greatly in terms of compensating for weak working memory and other executive function deficits. The alternative, though not impossible, of carrying all her books home and back every day can make for a prohibitively heavy backpack.

 I think it is also worthwhile mentioning that I’m working with Student on two specific new organizational systems to replace her agenda and her binder system. I will share that I have been doing this for many years, have worked with close to 300 clients in that time, and have been developing outside the box compensations for my own ADHD for 25 plus years since my diagnosis. Over that time I have developed systems that really work for our ADHD brains. I’m sure you would agree that the goal is to make sure that Student is organized, prepared, and is learning skills that will continue to be useful into college and beyond. That is always my focus. I’ll be helping Student to transition to using an accordion folder to keep track of her paperwork and a simple (probably digital) To Do List to keep track of her assignment. She’ll also be using some version of a month-view calendar for time management.

 In the years that I have taught these systems ever single kid who has fully bought in and used them has been far more organized and more successful as a result. Student certainly has the buy in. So, I’m confident that she’ll do well with these systems. It is my hope that her teachers will be on board with all of this and that it won’t present an opportunity to be down graded for not having the “right” binder. It is my job to make sure she learns the skills to have what she needs. It just won’t be in a binder.

 Thank you for the opportunity to communicate with you about Student and her needs. I’m looking forward to what I can help her accomplish throughout this school year. I would be more than happy to speak to any of her educational team about the details of any of the systems, the reasons they work for us ADHD’rs, or anything else. Please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Matt Reid, ACC, AACC