College Confidence with ADD: The Ultimate Success Manual for ADD Students, from Applying to Academics, Preparation to Social Success and Everything Else You Need to Know [Paperback]

Michael Sandler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2008 | ISBN-10: 1402212518 | ISBN-13: 978-1402212512 | Edition: 1

Everything You Need to Know to Find Success in College and Beyond

While college is a challenge for any student, the increased workload, complexity, freedom and competing demands make it particularly daunting for those students with Attention Deficit Disorder. But you need not be overwhelmed and you can succeed!

College Confidence with ADD will help you turn obstacles into opportunities and overcome social, academic, financial, and personal challenges both in and out of the classroom. Whether your goal is to get into the school of your choice, improve your grades, survive the experience, gain guidance and direction, or springboard into the future of your dreams, this comprehensive and essential guide will help you succeed.

Some of the many areas covered include:

-Choosing and applying to colleges
-Getting the accommodations you need
-Financial aid, scholarships and starting school
-Staying out of trouble, negotiating peer-pressure, and managing freedom
-Note-taking, studying and test-taking strategies
-Routine-building, prioritizing, and juggling competing demands
-Getting healthy, gaining focus, and finding your inner strength
-Overcoming depression, anxiety and fear
-Sports, social skills and establishing greater confidence
-Choosing majors, life direction, graduate school and future employment

Set yourself up for success from day one with College Confidence with ADD!

Michael Sandler is founder of The Creative Learning Institute and a practicing national ADD coach, author, and public speaker. He is a regular columnist for the national ADD magazine, ADDitude, and is a featured speaker at national ADD conventions. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Heading off to college? Be sure to pack College Confidence with ADD into your bookbag. By clearly explaining how the ADD mind works, Sandler enables the reader to survive during the college years, and will help him excel in whatever he chooses to study.

The book is divided into topics that are relevant to the challenges any student with ADD will face in college. I found the chapter on "Taking Advantage of Technology" especially helpful. It cuts right to the chase and lists a number of gadgets and tools that can help a person with ADD collect and manage information.

Reading this book as a recent college grad, I quickly discovered its usefulness isn't limited to the college years. Sandler's ADD-friendly tips-on what to eat, how to organize your space, and so on-offer welcome guidance for students and graduates alike. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

About the Author

Michael Sandler is the founder of the Creative Learning Institute and is a practicing ADD coach, author and public speaker. He writes a bimonthly column for the national ADD magazine, ADDitude, and is a featured speaker at ADD conventions. He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.; 1 edition (May 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402212518
• ISBN-13: 978-1402212512
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #91,355 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #41 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Disorders & Diseases > Attention Deficit Disorder
  • #61 in Books > Education & Reference > Education > College Guides

More About the Author

Michael Sandler is a national fitness and running coach, as well as the cofounder of RunBare Company (www.RunBare.com). Michael has coached world-class athletes to wins in cycling, running, and triathlons for over 20 years at the local, national, and international levels.

Among Michael's personal athletic achievements are training for the 1992 and 1996 Olympics in both cycling and speed skating at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. While racing in Europe aiming for the Tour de France, an unexpected vehicle collision on a closed race-course dashed his chances for both international competitions.

Michael completed the California Ironman, and has a personal record for the 10K of 30:30 during the finishing leg of The Harvest Moon half-ironman. He went on to win a 2002 cycling state championship in Olympic sprints, beating the national team, and placed seventh in the master's national championships. In 2005, he garnered a sponsorship from Rollerblade for ultra-endurance inline speedskating. In 2009 he paced Barefoot Ted--a well-known, colorful figure in ultra-running--for the last leg of the Leadville 100, in which Ted shattered his own personal record by over an hour.

In 2004, Michael rode his bike in an entirely different direction. He completed a monumental bicycle trip across the U.S. by riding 5,000 miles in 40 days, solo and unsupported to raise awareness for children and adults with attention deficit disorder (ADD). He ended the ride in Washington, D.C., where he was invited to speak before the U.S. House and Senate on the Mental Health Parity Act, urging equal health coverage for psychological as well as physical health.

National and international media have interviewed him, including NPR, BBC, and America in the Morning. Michael has been featured on CNN, the CBS Early Morning Show in Chicago and New York for his athletic efforts to raise awareness of ADD.

He is also author of the best-selling book College Confidence with ADD and founder of The Creative Learning Institute, a national center for coaching students with ADD and learning disabilities.

In 2006, while training for a cross-country inline skating trip, Michael suffered a near-death accident, which left him with a shattered femur, hip, and arm. Michael surprised the medical community when he made a full recovery by running barefoot. Two months after the accident, he set the fastest record for the Bolder Boulder and Denver Half-Marathon by completing these popular races on crutches. He now runs barefoot 10 to 20 miles daily on rocky trails, hot asphalt, and even snow and ice, and sub-five minute miles barefoot all with his titanium femur and hip.

RunBare Company, based out of Boulder, holds clinics for barefoot running nationwide, and in Canada. Michael also conducts similar clinics for destination travel adventurists worldwide.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The book on ADHD every was searching!, May 23, 2008

By 

Rosanna Tarsiero (Pisa, Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: College Confidence with ADD: The Ultimate Success Manual for ADD Students, from Applying to Academics, Preparation to Social Success and Everything Else You Need to Know (Paperback)

We finally got it!

In the intro, Michael Sandler writes about an episode, an accident, that changed his life, and for the best. In his words:

"I am very thankful for that accident, and for all of the struggles and challenges to follow. And I'm incredibly thankful that the "new" me, the one who whoke up to find someone else's blood being pumped into his veins, had the opportunity to rewrite much of this book.

You see, the book was originally a how-to guide for being the best square peg in a round hole. But when I cam to, I realized that wouldn't do it. I could no longer help students just fit in or get by. Life's too precious, too short, and we have far too much to offer. While good grades are great, I want to help students discover their inner talents, joy, and passion, so they may love, laugh, and achieve their dreams while living life to the fullest. I wanted to help them build castles in the sky."

With this spirit, Michael almost entirely re-wrote this book.

Every challenge is analyzed in a pros vs cons fashion, and strengths are used to face and solve problems. Problems are NOT denied, forgotten, or glossed over. Similarly, strengths aren't idolized but used.

In every chapter, the author offers balanced views (challenges and advantages are both explored), practical how-tos, and even tips on what to try, what not to try, and why!

What I loved about this book is that it's not as negative as many others are, focusing on the negatives only. But it also isn't as delusional as many are, thinking that only strengths should be analyzed, and cultivated for the fun of it, rather than for solving actual challenges.

The book, essentially, answers the question (and the quest): how can I obtain results without selling myself short and while having fun and pride in what I do?

As I said, this book is what we ADHDers have been searching for and hadn't found just yet.

Remember, it's not just for students, because it teaches the reader a new way to frame the ADHD challenges, and this new way can be applied to just about anything under the sun.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book for all AD/HD students and adults - Why I Prefer It., September 19, 2008

By 

John E. Burden - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: College Confidence with ADD: The Ultimate Success Manual for ADD Students, from Applying to Academics, Preparation to Social Success and Everything Else You Need to Know (Paperback)

It's rare that a book comes along that touches your heart while helping you relate to specific problems.

College Confidence with ADD is one such book. Written from the heart, Michael Sandler doesn't preach, but instead shares with you the hurdles involved in succeeding with ADHD, or any learning disability for that matter, how he personally overcame his challenges, and ways you too can succeed.

It's really two books in one...the first, a personal account of overcoming challenges, succeeding with a 'disability', and as Michael puts it, and shares through his own story, turning 'challenges into opportunities'. It's a beautiful book written from the heart sharing his touching stories.

The second book is a how-to guide on overcoming almost every challenge imaginable, and succeeding in school or in life today. Others I've shown this book would say it's a how-to guide for anyone in this modern, hectic, crazy-world. But it's definitely a how-to guide for anyone that think's outside the box, doesn't go from point A to point B in a straight line, or is labeled with AD/HD, Asbergers, Dyslexia, or any other 'learning disability'.

Michael helps readers quickly find the information they, or I am looking for, so that you can get back on track quickly. If you're struggling for a test, the info's in there...need to get organized, it's in there, struggling with relationships in school or beyond, it's in there too.

And it's COLOR!!!!!!

The layout is beautiful, it makes it easy to thumb through, skim at a glance (there are these great tabs on the side that let you skim the book like a dictionary) and with little graphics, icons, and text-boxes, helps keep your attention (That's important for this reader!!!)

If you're looking for one book to overcome challenges, see how others have done it, and figure out how to succeed, this book is worth a try!!!

(I just got the audiobook version after falling in love with the paperback. For my short attention span, the audio-version is even better!

(Here's the Link)(College Confidence with ADD - Unabridged Audiobook - The Ultimate Success Manual for ADD Students, from Applying to Academics, Preparation to Social Success and Everything Else You Need to Know

Like the book, it's short-attention-span friendly. Everything's broken up into bite-size pieces, it covers everything from the main book...I think even more in the medication and alternatives sections...at least that's what I've found so far)

The audiobook has chimes help keep your focus, and you can listen while multi-tasking, walking across campus, in your room, or in your car. You might keep the paperback as the quick reference guide and get the audiobook to go through the whole book...or give the paperback to mom and dad and put the audiobook on your Ipod or other Mp3 player)

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life Changing Book For ADDers -- Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, July 3, 2008

By 

E. Share - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: College Confidence with ADD: The Ultimate Success Manual for ADD Students, from Applying to Academics, Preparation to Social Success and Everything Else You Need to Know (Paperback)

I can't say enough about how terrific and unique this book is not only for teens going off to college, in college, post grads... but for ANYONE with ADD or ADHD!! This book is explained in a format where the author shares his stories and then details what he has learned from his experiences, in order to help others. He has ADHD himself and is even a life coach for other ADDers now. This book is like having an ADD coach by your side all the time. You can use it as a guide and flip through various sections when necessary or you can read it cover to cover over and over again. The author's writing is captivating, lighthearted and even humorous at times. He even laughs at his own mistakes sometimes, which truly helps readers see life as a bigger picture than just a current struggle they may be going through at the time. He explains the many creative gifts of having ADD and broaches just about every life topic with great knowledge. His sections range from the best foods for an ADDer to eat to stay focused, to sections on how college students with ADD can keep a great schedule for eating, laundry, and cleaning. He also broaches much deeper sections on depression and impulse behaviors of ADDers. This book is captivating and is such an easy read for someone who may have trouble focusing. It is truly an essential educational resource for ANYONE with ADD or ADHD!!