Video: Self-advocacy tips for students with LD

Watch best-selling author, Andrea Davis Pinkney, describe why it is so important for young adults to develop self-advocacy skills. She also speaks poignantly to parents about her experience with her own children's learning disabilities and the how she was able to cope and hind support for herself. See the video here...

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My son/daughter is sick....what do I do?

When your son/daughter isn't feeling well and they are away from home, it's probably as hard for them as it is for you! Not being able to take their temperature, make chicken soup or accurately gauge if this is a cold, flu virus or something more can be very hard for parents who have children away from home for the first time. But don't worry - there are lots of resources and people available to help your son/daughter.

Here are a few suggestions for when you get the text...."Mom, I'm not feeling well."

1 - First and foremost, assume that your son/daughter WILL get sick at least once during their academic year at college. Students who have roommates and are without mom or dad reminding them to wash their hands are notorious for spreading germs...and quickly! Thames faculty and staff know that as soon as the first student shows signs of sniffling and sneezing we bring out our PSPK (Personal Sickness Prevention Kit)....Airborne and Purell!

2 - Please don't overreact. Students develop a runny nose and may call home to inform you that they have the flu. Always ask about their symptoms and then make an informed decision using your mom or dad instincts.

3 - Encourage your son/daughter to go to the Heath & Wellness Office. This office is located in the Yarnall Athletic Center (gym building off of Dibiasi Drive). If your son/daughter is too sick to walk there, they can call Campus Safety who will drive to Thames Academy and pick up your student to bring them to Health & Wellness. The nurse practitioner is on duty weekdays from 9am-5pm and, if necessary, a physician will see students on campus on an as needed basis. If your son/daughter is sick in the evening hours, help them judge if their condition is mild enough to wait until the morning. In extreme cases, students may choose to be admitted to the Emergency Room at Lawrence and Memorial Hospital (one mile from campus on Montauk Ave).

4 - Please notify your student's academic advisor that he/she is not feeling well. The advisor can relay this information to instructors and residence life staff. Although, if your son/daughter has a roommate he/she will usually tell Thames staff and all of the other students that your son/daughter is not feeling well long before we receive an email from you. News of a student illness, similar to germs, spread very quickly in our building.

5 - Encourage your son/daughter, when feeling better, to contact his/her instructors and obtain any assignments or class notes that he/she may have missed. It is important for your son/daughter to realize that sick days in college are not free passes to avoid responsibility. As surprising as it may sound, some students believe the world stops when they do not feel well. Please reassure them that they will be fine in just a few hours (or days) and you are proud of them for taking care of themselves away from home!

Give yourself a pat on the back too for surviving your son/daughter's illness away from home!

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How to Stay Connected While Your Son/Daughter is Away at College

It can be a difficult balancing act for parents and caregivers when deciding how much and how often to communicate with their new college students. How do you "let go" of your child while still giving them love and support during their transition year at Thames? Here are some suggestions and tips for staying in touch while allowing your son or daughter to maintain their independence:

1) Communicate via e‐mail or text message. It's inexpensive and allows the student to communicate with you as his or her schedule allows. Please don’t call or text during class time. Your son or daughter will choose your phone call over the teacher’s lesson – trust us, it happens a lot.  

2) Write letters and send cards – from you or extended family members and friends. Many students look forward to the mail delivery every day, even though they don't always have the time to write or call in response. You may want to send a text to let them know to expect something in the mail and tot check their mailbox.

3) Send small care packages with items such as treats (or 'rarely-seen-in-a-college-dorm' healthy food), magazines, etc.

4) Visit your child on Family Weekend.  Meet his/her friends. Let your student set the tone for how the weekend is spent.  

5) Allow yourself to be a "shoulder to cry on". When your child calls or writes, listen and don't be judgmental. Please suggest that they seek out their Thames advisor for help. Often their are two sides to every story and the Thames advisor can help put the situation or worry into the bigger picture.

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Article: Letting Your Child Make Mistakes

Thames Academy is a program for students in many different places on their educational journey. We hope that each student's journey is full of forward steps and great successes. However, sometimes students need a safe place to try new things, an academic and residential transitional year, to make mistakes or as we call them, 'teachable moments.'

The article, How Parents Can Help College Students Value Their Mistakes, has excellent suggestions for parents to help their son/daughter turn missteps into learning opportunities.

Check out some of the tips below. If you like these suggestions, click here to read more!

• Don’t jump in to rescue your student.  Let him make the mistake – even though you may see it coming.  Remember that this can be a positive experience.
• Help your student evaluate the experience.  Making a mistake can be helpful if it means that your next decision will be different.  What has he learned from this experience?  What will he do differently next time?
• Help your student remember that learning is a process of constantly making and correcting mistakes, and that she has done it all of her life.  How did she learn to walk, to ride a bike, to add 2+2?

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Cracking the Code on Teen Netspeak

 The website, ParentFurther.com has a great resource for parents called, Cracking the Code on Teen Netspeak. This downloadable pdf lets you in on the "code" of text language and other abbreviations that you might find on popular websites.

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Article: Helping Your Teen With ADHD Find a Summer Job

As college students start to think about the end of the semester, they also begin to think about summer plans and ask themselves important questions such as:

-Will I get to see my college friends?
-How many hours will mom and dad let me spend on Facebook?
-How many consecutive days can I spend in pajamas?

Meanwhile, parents are asking themselves a different set of questions:
-When will my son/daughter get a summer job??

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Article: Wake up - Morning Help for your ADD Student

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How to Get The Most out of Your Phone Conversations

Are your phone conversations and text messages with your son/daughter too short and sweet? If so, take a look at the suggestions listed below for ways to encourage open lines of communication with your son/daughter:

• Make a list of items you want to discuss so that when your child calls, you can cover any important topics.  

• Begin your calls with positive news or praise for your son/daughter's achievement (even if it's a small one)

• Let your child determine the length of your talk. He or she may need to study or go to

class. Controlling the amount of conversation is also another way your child can exercise

his or her freedom. If you need more time, ask to schedule some uninterrupted time to

talk.  

• Don't ask a question if you don't want to hear the answer. If you respond in a

judgmental fashion to something your child tells you it will limit how much he or she

shares with you in the future.  

* Adapted from uwsuper.edu "Letting Go: Tips for Parents of New College Students"

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"Conversation is an art" - driving home for Thanksgiving Break

by Jennifer Sullivan

"Conversation is an art" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you have a long drive ahead of you in the next few days as you travel home for Thanksgiving break, the book, Conversations on the Go: clever questions to keep teens and grown ups talking, provides some great tips and conversation starters. The author, Mary Alice Ackerman, gives these tips to parents:


1-Keep the conversation going (ask follow-up questions) 
2-Conversation doesn't have to be heavy 
3-Be Prepared for the Unexpected Answers

The book offers a few fun questions to get you started...

What was your first memory as a little child?
What is your favorite family tradition?
Who are the 3 people in your life you know you can always count on? Why did you choose them?
What 2 questions do you have about your family history?
What is the most important quality you look for in a friend?
What questions would you like adults to ask you or your friends?

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Article: Your ADHD Teen: Parenting Strategies and Support

Raising a teenager is challenging. As I think about raising my own daughters, ages 10 and 7, I can only imagine what my life as a parent will be like 10 years from now with two teenage girls in the house!

Raising a teenager with ADHD comes with its own set of rules and the article, Help Your Teen Navigate ADHD On His Own Terms, has many helpful tips and strategies for those days when there isn't enough coffee (or wine) to get you through!

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE!

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Medication Management: An Important Skill for College Students

Many college freshman are learning, for the first time, how to independently manage and administer their daily medication  We recommend that you help your son/daughter acquire and practice this skill before he/she arrives at Thames Academy. Thames Academy staff are not allowed to administer medication, but do help students gain independence with this skill throughout our year-long program.

An interesting and important post on the website of the University of Michigan called, Tips for Managing Your Medication, contains many helpful tips and strategies for managing medication while away at college.

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15 Questions to Ask Your Son/Daughter

Here are some great conversation starters to get inside the brain of your teenage son/daughter. If you dare.....

Here are 15 questions from Propellers: Quick Questions to Launch Good Conversations
to get the ball rolling:

1. Who is your hero? What makes that person your hero?
2. Have you ever been in a situation where you had to decide whether or not to stand up for what you believed in? What did you do?
3. Have you made any specific plans for your future? What does your future look like?
4. What actions are you taking now to make the world a better place in the future?
5. What is the nicest compliment you ever received from an adult?
6. Do you think our community is a good place to grow up in? If so, describe what makes it a good place. If not, what would make it better?
7. What are the worst problems in the world today that you wish you could do something about?
8. What do you think adults misunderstand about young people? How could you help them to understand better?
9. In your opinion, how important is it to dream and set goals? Why?
10. What is the trait you like most about each member of our family?
11. At this point in your life, what do you consider your greatest accomplishment?
12. What is the most pressing issue at your school right now? How would you address it?
13. How do you feel when someone pushes you to do your best?
14. If you could describe your ideal day, what would it be like?
15. What does it take to be a leader? Do you think you are a leader? Who do you think is a good leader?

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8 (Non-Monetary) Gifts for Students with LD and ADHD

The article 8 Gifts for Students with LD and ADHD serves as a good reminder to give your son/daughter these gifts which are more valuable than anything money can buy. Happy reading!

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New website from NCLD called 'Understood': Parent online support

The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) has recently launched an initiative called Understood, an online resource for parents of students with learning & attention issues. The website will have features such as: personalized resources, 1,500 searchable articles, and a community of parents nationwide to ask and answers questions.

Thames Academy is proud to be a part of the current national trend - providing support for parents of students with learning challenges. The NCLD and Thames Academy both acknowledge the need to design a supportive and informative space for parents. Thames Academy recognizes that parents and families are an integral part of a student's life. When the school day is done or the academic year is over, you are the foundation that your son/daughter will return to, you are the should they lean on, you have been and will continue to be their biggest cheerleader and strongest advocate. Thames Academy understands - we have created this blog just for you. 

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A Sigh of Relief: Positive Thinking for Parents

by Jennifer Sullivan "As psychologist Rick Hanson has observed, our brains are “like Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones.” We tend to focus on the things we didn’t do instead of celebrating our victories and accomplishments. This tendency can be heightened for parents of children with learning disabilities (LD)..."

If you find that you are plagued by worries and negative feelings after speaking to your son/daughter on the phone, via email or text, the article Seven strategies to promote positive thinking provides some useful suggestions for focusing on the positive!

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Academic Tool: "The Assignment Calculator"

Assignment Calculator is an easy to use tool which breaks down assignments into small chunks of manageable deadlines and steps. 

All you do is to simply enter 3 pieces of information: 1) the date the assignment was given                2) assignment due date 3) type of assignment (reflection, research paper, presentation). 

Have your son/daughter try it out today!

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Technology Tools For Life: Apps

Check out the article published by the Learning Disabilities Association, "Tools For Life," to find innovative and useful apps for your cell phone, tablet or computer.

The article highlights the Tools For Life App Finder which allows you to search for app by disability or keyword. The app finder is an excellent resource for adults, young adults or children!

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TODAY Show segment: "Helicopter Parents"

We know that you care about your son/daughter and want to help them through the transition of living away from home and taking college courses....for the very first time. But research now shows that being overly protective of your teenage child, affectionately labeled being a "helicopter parent," may actually be detrimental to their growth and development.

This TODAY Show segment which aired on Thursday, September 4th examines the effects of "helicopter parenting."

                                                       

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Help your college student organize their life with these free apps!

If your son or daughter is connected to their cell phone 24 hours a day, you may not have a difficult time convincing them to download some of these important apps. In July 2014, Consumer Reports published an article, 19 Top Free Apps for College Students. One of the apps they mention that I particularly like is Find My iPhone (or Find My Phone, for Android). This app "... is one app you’ll definitely appreciate if you’re unfortunate enough to need it. Using your smart phone’s locator services, this app can locate your phone if it’s ever lost or stolen, ping a sound to help you find it, and allow you to remotely wipe data from a connected device. Give yourself some peace of mind (and save on the replacement phone fees) by syncing this app to your other devices. For iOS and Android, respectively."

This app sounds like it can be extremely useful, but hopefully you will never have to use it!

by Jennifer Sullivan

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Tips for Move-in Day Success!

Thames Academy 2015 New Student Orientation!

Orientations will be held in May & August for new 
Thames Academy students and parents. 

May 29th & 30th - Orientation for all families

August 27th- Orientation for families unable to attend in May
(Orientation is held at Thames Academy from 1:00 - 4:00pm on 8/27)


CLICK HERE for the August Orientation Parent Schedule!

CLICK HERE to See a Video of Pictures From May 2015 Orientation!

Click here to read a List of Important Enrollment Forms to Complete.

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