With the holiday season approaching, we will all be around family, friends, and colleagues a lot more. Without a doubt, the question will be asked, “How is so-and-so child doing at so-and-so College?” Sometimes the answer will be, “Great. They loved their first semester.” But other times the answer will be, “They really struggled. It was a tough transition to college.”
There might be a lot of reasons that a student struggles in college: difficulty adapting to their new setting, anxiety, depression, too much partying, difficult classes, etc. This list could go on and on. However, the common thread for these students is that there will be a lot of pressure for them to improve their academics the next semester.
What many families might not know is that their student does not have to do this on their own. In fact, sending a student back to campus and hoping for a better result will often not result in any changes. There is an entire spectrum of help out there for students to access. One of these options is executive function coaching.
For college students, especially those that are freshman or sophomores, that very next semester after struggling is a crucial time in their lives. Their ability to succeed and progress in college can drastically change the way that they feel about themselves, their self confidence, and their outlook on their future, not to mention their ability to graduate college. It is a vital time that can have massive ripple effects through a young person’s life. I have seen many students come out of a tough semester, improve the next semester, and have that buoy them and create momentum for the next 5-10 years of their life. I have also seen students struggle more, fail classes, and drop out of school. This can throw college-aged young people into a tailspin that can last years and years.
With such a pivotal moment hanging in the balance, it’s important for families to explore all their options for ways to help their college student. Working with an executive function coach, and possibly supplementing it with tutoring or therapy, can be a very effective strategy to help students learn the skills, reverse the backwards momentum, and start to succeed in college.