Students with severe ADHD have special needs that schools, tutors, and parents have difficulty providing. If your teen has ADHD, you might find a residential treatment center (RTC) provides the full-time, around-the-clock care, therapy, and education they need. Keep reading to learn how an RTC helps manage your teen’s condition and achieve a higher level of success.
Understanding the Challenges of ADHD in Teens
ADHD can worsen once your child is in their teens, indicating additional help is needed. If your teen’s behavior has escalated to any of the following scenarios, you might find residential treatment for ADHD is the answer:
- Self-destructive behavior such as self-harming, substance abuse, getting themselves into risky situations, driving dangerously, etc. are warning signs of severe ADHD and other mental health issues
- Overwhelm which presents itself in different ways such as an increasing inability to focus on important tasks, poor prioritization, shutting down more often than usual, etc.
- Emotional dysregulation with strong reactions that don’t fit the situation or having difficulty calming down after an emotional outburst
- Increasing signs of academic struggles
- Withdrawal and avoidance
Recognizing Common Co-Occurring Disorders
Unfortunately, it’s very common for teens with ADHD to have co-occurring disorders. This is often anxiety and depression which have a significant influence on your teen’s behavior and emotional health. If your teen has ADHD and is displaying the above symptoms, it helps to speak to their doctor to determine if they have developed anxiety and depression.
You want to ensure all aspects of their emotional health are considered to provide the right treatment and management to help them reduce anxiety and increase their chances of developing coping strategies.
If your teen is experiencing anxiety in hand with their ADHD it could be the reason they can’t focus, manage their worry, or get organized. In the case of depression, they are more likely to become sad, turn away from past interests, or voice feelings of hopelessness. Depression and ADHD are most recognizable when teens become more impulsive and experience emotional dysregulation.
Experiencing co-occurring disorders can make it impossible for your teen to cope, as the disorders interplay with each other amplifying each other’s symptoms. This can make the idea of residential treatment a more appealing solution as it offers them relief and hope they can learn to manage their disorders.
Residential Treatment for Teens with ADHD
Teens with ADHD, especially with co-occurring conditions, can find residential treatment a promising option. As ADHD boarding schools, they provide temporary homes where teens receive 24/7 support and therapy based on their needs. One of the best aspects of residential treatment is the structure they offer, an important aspect of ADHD treatment.
Other benefits include:
- The perfect combination to help your teen succeed including academic support, behavioral therapy, and medical management when needed.
- One-on-one sessions to ensure your teen receives the personalized attention they need with tailored therapeutic interventions.
- Access to facilities that provide meaningful downtime, alone time, and interaction with peers.
- Teaching your child coping strategies from emotional regulation to time management, and social interaction to ending self-destructive behavior.
- Family involvement, including parent education, family therapy and ongoing supports to maintain the family dynamic.
- Improving emotional regulation to nurture relationships with family, peers, teachers and friends.
- Improving academic performance with a structured school program and dedicated teachers in specialized curriculums.
- Learning to control impulses to avoid risky behavior.
Most importantly, teens with ADHD can gain confidence with hope for success as adults.
How to Find the Right Residential Treatment Center for ADHD
This is a very complex decision that needs to suit your teen’s needs academically, mentally, and personally. Research accredited facilities that treat ADHD and offer the type of curriculum and extracurricular activities your teen will enjoy. Touring the sights is important, but it is equally important to first discuss your teen’s situation to pre-screen the facilities. This will avoid wasting your time traveling to centers that aren’t the right fit. Your healthcare providers or those involved in the management of your teen’s ADHD and disorders might also recommend local centers that allow you to visit more often.
If you’re reading this and your teen is displaying this type of behavior but haven’t officially been diagnosed with ADHD, it’s important to have them assessed. Because ADHD has similar symptoms to mental health conditions, formal diagnosis ensures they receive the proper behavioral therapies and avoid misdiagnosis that allows their actual condition to worsen.
Although not all teens with ADHD require a residential treatment center, if you find they are struggling or they have been diagnosed with co-occurring disorders, an RTC could be the perfect solution.
Telos Academy offers residential treatment for students with ADHD to help them achieve academic success and enjoy an overall sense of well-being. Click here to request information on full-time boarding school options for students with severe ADHD.