ADHD Weekly, September 3, 2026

Starting high school brings new routines, new expectations, and a lot more responsibility. For a student with ADHD, that transition can make challenges with organization and time management more noticeable just as teachers begin expecting greater independence.

“The primary challenge with transitioning to high school is that it is a time when academic expectations are ramping up,” Joshua M. Langberg, PhD, told CHADD. Dr. Langberg is a licensed clinical psychologist and dean of the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University. He is also a former member of CHADD’s professional advisory board.

“Students are expected to take on more responsibility and do more tasks independently,” he says.

Parents know their teens need to become increasingly responsible for homework, schedules, and other school demands, especially as they begin looking ahead to college, work, or other plans after graduation. But independence develops gradually. Dr. Langberg cautions against going from a high level of parental involvement in middle school to very little involvement once high school begins.

How can you help your teen adjust to high school?

Start by making expectations clear and specific, says Dr. Langberg. Instead of telling your teen, “I’d like to see you be more independent,” he recommends you work together to create a plan with manageable, measurable goals.

That might mean keeping an online calendar with homework assignments, tests, and other deadlines and checking it at least once a day. At first, you might ask to review the calendar together each day. Another goal could be developing a system for organizing schoolwork in a backpack or online rather than trying to keep track of loose papers, assignments, and reminders.

Choose a few important tasks your teen can begin handling independently. Then notice what is working and acknowledge their efforts from the start rather than waiting until several weeks into the school year.

“The only way to encourage independence is to define specifically what you’re looking for on a day-to-day basis,” says Dr. Langberg. “If you define what you want to see, monitor it regularly, and provide encouragement and positive feedback on a daily basis, then you can gradually reduce the frequency of your monitoring, once you see those behaviors are in place.”

Positive feedback matters. Parents can easily find themselves reacting when something goes wrong while overlooking all the things their teens are managing successfully.

“We hope for the best, and then wait for them to fail and point it out when they fail,” he says. That pattern can lead to frustration, consequences, and conflict rather than helping a teen develop independence.

Keep expectations realistic

No system will work perfectly all the time, and that’s okay. When a teen becomes overwhelmed, motivation can quickly disappear. Previous school struggles may also shape how they approach new expectations.

A teen who has repeatedly struggled to meet expectations may begin to assume that trying harder will simply lead to another failure. Those experiences can make the increased demands of high school especially difficult.

“You have to ask yourself, why would someone who’s experienced those failures be motivated to try something new, and double down and put in increased effort just because she’s starting high school? If you think about it that way, it’s logical that many adolescents with ADHD struggle with their motivation to do these things,” Dr. Langberg says.

Parents can help change that pattern by beginning with goals teens can realistically reach and then build from there.

“You have to make it realistic and easy to achieve,” says Dr. Langberg, adding that a step-by-step approach works best. Expectations can increase as a teen develops the skills and confidence to manage what is already in place.

“The adolescent high schooler has to get this sense of, ‘This is going to work this time. This is different—I feel better about this. My parent is pleased with me. We’re focusing on the things I’m doing well. We’re not focusing on the negatives, so now I can add more things and move forward,’” Dr. Langberg says. “Oftentimes when the system doesn’t work, when they experience failure, it’s because we’ve asked too much out of the gate, and we really need to guarantee success.”

The goal isn’t to hand over every responsibility on the first day of high school. It’s to help your teen develop the skills and confidence to take on more responsibility over time.

Looking for more?

• ADHD and School: A Toolkit for Parents
• Parenting Teens with ADHD
• Dear Teacher, What I’d Like You to Know About My Child…
• When Students Attend IEP Meetings: What Parents Should Know
• Supporting Successful Transition to High School
• Finding Focus: Attention Training for High Schools