Back-to-School Anxiety, ADHD, ASD, and Executive Functioning: Helping Students Start the Year with Confidence

Back-to-School Anxiety, ADHD, ASD, and Executive Functioning: Helping Students Start the Year with Confidence

Nicole Kilian, MA

The beginning of a new school year can bring excitement, new opportunities, and a sense of starting over. However, for students with ADHD, ASD, anxiety, or executive functioning challenges, it can also bring significant stress.

New teachers, changing expectations, unfamiliar routines, increased workloads, and social pressures can quickly feel overwhelming. Some students may worry constantly about getting good grades or fitting in. Others may struggle to get started on assignments, remember what they need, manage their time, or keep their materials organized. When these difficulties pile up, students may begin to feel discouraged, frustrated, or convinced that they are “lazy” or “bad at school,” even when they are working incredibly hard!

What Executive Functioning Struggles Can Look Like

Executive functioning skills help us plan, prioritize, organize, manage time, regulate emotions, and follow through on tasks. For students with ADHD or anxiety, difficulties in these areas may show up as:

• Frequently forgetting assignments or losing important materials
• Procrastinating until a deadline becomes urgent
• Feeling overwhelmed by multi-step projects
• Having trouble beginning tasks, even when they understand the work
• Underestimating how long homework will take
• Becoming easily distracted or mentally exhausted
• Experiencing emotional outbursts or shutting down when frustrated
• Avoiding school, homework, presentations, or asking for help
• Feeling intense pressure to perform perfectly

These behaviors are often misunderstood as a lack of effort or motivation. In reality, many students need additional support to understand how their brains work and to develop strategies that fit their individual needs.

How Therapy Can Help

Therapy can offer students a supportive space to talk openly about school-related stress without fear of criticism or disappointment. Together, we can identify what is contributing to anxiety, avoidance, or frustration and develop realistic tools that can be used both at school and at home.

Depending on the client’s needs, therapy may focus on:

• Breaking large assignments into smaller, manageable steps
• Creating routines for homework, studying, and preparing for school
• Improving organization and time-management skills
• Recognizing and challenging anxious or self-critical thoughts
• Developing coping skills for tests, presentations, and social situations
• Building frustration tolerance and emotional regulation
• Practicing self-advocacy and asking teachers for support
• Increasing confidence by recognizing strengths and progress

As a mental health clinician and executive functioning coach, I incorporate both emotional support and practical skill-building into sessions. Rather than expecting one strategy to work for every student, I help clients experiment with different approaches and find tools that feel realistic and sustainable for them.

Starting the School Year with Support

Students do not need to wait until they are failing, refusing school, or completely overwhelmed to receive support. Beginning therapy early in the school year can help identify challenges before they become larger patterns. It can also give students a consistent place to process setbacks, recognize successes, and adjust their strategies as academic expectations increase.

If your child or teenager is struggling with ADHD, school anxiety, procrastination, organization, emotional regulation, or confidence, therapy may help them feel more capable and less alone as they begin the new school year.
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I currently have after-school availability for both in-person and virtual therapy sessions. If you are interested in learning more or determining whether I may be a good fit for your child or teen, please reach out to our intake coordinator to schedule a consultation!