CRG
Building Resilience and Grit
Summer 2017 ~ Volume 7 (2)
In This Issue
Fostering Resilience
Middle School Girls
Young Adults with ASD
Career Assessments
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 IN THIS ISSUE

The terms resilience and grit are gaining increased use in schools and colleges these days.  Resilience refers to the ability to bounce back from difficult situations.  Grit refers to a combination of passion and perseverance that allows us to pursue challenging goals over time.  Our culture is becoming increasingly aware of the growing number of children, teens, and young adults who regularly experience high degrees of stress and lack the emotional coping skills to smoothly navigate the transition to adulthood.  While this trend can be particularly true of students with disabilities such as learning disabilities, ADHD, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), it is also true that growing up with a disability can enhance a young person's resilience and grit.  We see both patterns at CRG every day.
 
The literature suggests a number of reasons for these trends.  The recession of 2008 increased pressure on students, families, and educators to help students get into a "good" college.  Many schools have developed a "do over" culture where students are given multiple opportunities to improve a low grade.  This approach reduces the likelihood that students will develop better study strategies that can result in higher grades next time. Helicopter parents (who themselves are often very stressed out) find it easier to solve problems for their children rather than teaching their sons and daughters how to work through challenges on their own.  Social media consumes young people's lives.  Our onscreen hours create the impression that life is either shiny and happy and successful or endlessly dramatic and angst-filled. 
 
Over the past few years, students who lack problem solving skills and emotional fortitude have overwhelmed colleges .  Campus counseling centers struggle to meet the growing numbers of students seeking mental health services.  Professors are fielding calls from alarmed parents after their adult son or daughter earns a "C-" on an exam.  Undergraduates struggle to find "good fit" majors due in part to limited work experience and unrealistic expectations for six figure salaries soon after graduating. 
 
With knowledge comes power.  Understanding these trends (and reasons for them) can help us chart a different course with children, teens, and young adults.  Adolescents themselves can take hope in a culture that values resilience and grit.  Our society can reclaim the mindset that we become stronger while learning from our mistakes and build important character traits as we figure out how to deal with life's inevitable challenges.
 
This issue includes four articles that describe how parents, educators, and behavioral health providers can nurture these qualities in young people.  Dr. Julie Steck opens by describing ways that parents can raise children with ADHD while promoting their emotional strengths.  Dr. Sarah Norris reports on strategies to help girls in middle school enhance their self-esteem and resilience.  Dr. Sandy Burkhardt offers parents and educators techniques for helping teens and young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) make successful life transitions.  Finally, we include an interview with Dr. Ray Kinder and Dr. Steck while describing how CRG's career assessments help students and parents make informed choices about college and careers. 

The September 2017 issue of the APA's Monitor on Psychology includes a wonderful article by Kirsten Weir, "Maximizing Children's Resilience."  The digital version will be available soon at http://www.apa.org/monitor/.
 
With this end-of-summer issue, we wish all students and educators a healthy and happy start to a new academic year!

CRG Newsletter Editor

Fostering Resilience and Grit in Those with ADHD

Resilience:  The capacity to recover quickly from difficulty
Grit:  Perseverance and passion for long-term goals
 
When treating students with ADHD, I typically see the student and his/her family prior to each semester or very early in the semester and then periodically over the next few months.  Without fail, the student states that the new semester will be their best semester ever.  They set their goals high, frequently telling me that they will likely make all A's and maybe a few B's.  By the middle of the semester, they are reporting that the teacher/professor is not a very good instructor and that they might have a few missing assignments.    The parents then tell me that there are two to three times the number of missing assignments that the student reported.  By the end of the semester, the students are typically scrambling to complete final projects, pass upcoming exams, and complete unfinished work.  Rarely do these students meet the goals they predicted at the beginning of the semester.  Yet, they return the next semester with a smile on their face and the same positive outlook.  They are resilient and bounce back from the difficulty of the previous semester.  And then the cycle starts all over again.  


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Promoting Resilience in Middle School Girls:  
A Guide for Parents
The parent/child relationship changes in middle school with young adolescents becoming less reliant on their parents.  While this period in movies and fiction is often depicted as a period of "Storm and Stress," the reality suggests a more gradual transformation from dependency to independence (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2010).  Research by Steinberg (1990) suggests that most adolescents have a positive view of their parents and rely upon them for guidance.  They usually embrace values that are similar to their parents and feel that they are loved and supported by their parents.

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Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder:  
The Right Landing Spot 
In order to promote and preserve the grit and resilience of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), it is necessary to understand the challenges they face in key areas of socialization and flexible interests.  For students with high functioning ASD (formerly known as "Asperger's"), the true test of their success is often measured by their ability to transition to the next new environment - classroom, dorm, or job.   Parents often focus on two important aspects of their teen's well-being as they search to find the right landing spot:
  • Where will social and emotional development be promoted?
  • Where will quality of life be maintained and enhanced?

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Career Assessments:  A Wise Investment
Since its founding, CRG has conducted comprehensive assessments to help clients and their families make individualized and data-based decisions.  We believe that testing is the foundation for a realistic plan for success.  Career assessments have become increasingly popular over the past few years as college costs have risen and job opportunities have shrunk or become more specialized.  In past decades, it was common for teenagers to take career exploration classes and/or hold down part-time jobs in high school.  These pursuits often help students explore their interests and strengths and make decisions about college majors and careers based on work experience.  In the past decade, academic demands, service learning requirements, and the popularity of SAT or ACT prep courses have restricted high school students' opportunities to explore the world of work.  Consequently, many students go off to college now with limited insight about the kinds of majors or careers for which they are best suited.


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