A mentor who knows them.
A year of work worth caring about.
Every student is matched with a dedicated academic mentor who stays with them across years. Every student also has the opportunity to build an end-of-year capstone — a real piece of work that pulls together the challenges and personal projects they've shipped through the year. Both are included with enrollment.
What a mentor actually does.
Decades of research from Russell Barkley and others reframe ADHD as a delay in executive functions - planning, working memory, time management, self-regulation - rather than just inattention. That has a clear implication: those skills have to be taught explicitly.
Sessions around what your child is working on - a math push, capstone planning, a writing review. Same mentor across years where possible - relationship continuity matters.
Planning, time-blocking, task initiation, prioritization, follow-through - the actual hard skills, coached in every session.
Mentor helps your child find clubs, competitions, internships, and passion projects that fit how they're wired.
From scoping to delivery, your child's mentor is their primary thinking partner on the year's capstone.
A capstone that ships
at the end of the year.
The capstone is what the year builds toward. Throughout the year, your child works on challenges and personal projects across whatever they're into — picking up the skills piece by piece. By the end, those become one synthesized thing they can point at and say "I made that." Not a worksheet. Not a poster board. Real work, in the world.
Pre-production, interviews, editing, screening - usually a 6–10 minute film on a subject the student deeply cares about.
An app, game, or tool with real users. Mentor helps with scoping, version control, and a public launch.
Hypothesis, method, data collection, write-up. Often paired with a faculty mentor in the student's field of interest.
A musical recital, theater production, art show, or stand-up set - culminating in a real audience.
A real venture: a clothing line, a tutoring service, a nonprofit chapter, a podcast - with a P&L and lessons learned.
A novella, a journalism series, a blog with sustained readership. Capstone year ends with a finished, edited piece.
Foundational research: Zhang & Ma, 2023 - meta-analysis of 66 PBL studies (effect size 0.71).
Planning and follow-through,
treated as a curriculum.
Most schools don't teach these skills - they assume them. For students with ADHD, that assumption is the difference between flourishing and falling behind.
Calendars, task boards, weekly reviews - adapted to your child's brain, not a one-size template.
How to get started when starting feels impossible. Concrete tactics, not vague advice.
End-of-week reviews that build self-awareness without becoming a parent-style lecture.
How to ask for what you need from teachers, peers, and (eventually) employers and professors.