Resources

Partnering with Parents: The Next Frontier for Camps, Schools & ADHD-Serving Organizations

Brian Lux

Director of Camp Sequoia

October is ADHD Awareness Month — a reminder that supporting neurodivergent youth takes more than strong programs. It requires partnership. Camps, schools, and clinicians can amplify their impact when they treat parents not as passive recipients of updates but as true collaborators in shaping a child’s growth.

Why Parents as Partners Matter

 

  • Parents hold essential context

Parents observe their children across settings that professionals rarely see — home routines, unstructured play, social gatherings, or quiet downtime. These contexts reveal subtle cues about attention, motivation, and self-regulation that complement what teachers or counselors observe in structured environments. A camper might appear disengaged during a team game, but a parent could share that transitions or fatigue trigger this pattern. That perspective helps staff support, not misinterpret, the behavior.

  • Research backs parent-inclusive approaches

A meta-analysis of parent-involved ADHD interventions found that when parents are engaged in behavioral treatment or training, children show stronger symptom improvement, better compliance, and greater academic and social success than in child-only programs. Likewise, a 2021 study in Frontiers in Psychology reported that joint parent–teacher training improved outcomes across academics, social skills, and classroom behavior. Parent engagement isn’t just beneficial — it’s predictive of success, as shown by a Walden University dissertation linking consistent parental involvement to higher academic achievement among students with ADHD.

  • Collaboration builds trust

Many parents of children with ADHD report friction with professionals who dismiss or minimize their insights. Research shows that misaligned perceptions between parents and educators are common — and damaging to relationships. Another study found their perspectives overlapped by only about 12%, showing each side sees a unique piece of the child’s functioning. When schools and programs integrate both perspectives, they gain a fuller picture and stronger alliance.

Practical Strategies to Build Parent Partnerships

Start with open, two-way dialogue and invite connection early. For example, ask parents to write a ‘Letter of Introduction’ describing their child’s strengths, sensitivities, and motivators. Prompts might include: 

  • What helps your child reset after a tough day? 
  • What are your hopes for their camp or school experience? 

These letters transform intake from a formality into relationship-building. Staff can also share anonymized insights from these letters during orientation to encourage empathy and curiosity.

  1. Include parents in diagnostic and treatment loops. Clinicians and evaluators can adopt ‘loop-in moments’ — brief check-ins where they share findings, invite parent reactions, and co-design next steps. Using tools like the Vanderbilt ADHD Diagnostic Rating Scale ensures that both home and school voices are heard. Regular review meetings, even short virtual ones, create transparency and reduce the sense of decisions happening behind closed doors.
  2. Elevate parent voice in IEP and 504 meetings. Parents bring historical knowledge about strategies that have worked across settings. Effective committees ask: Which supports have worked at home or camp, and how can we adapt those successes to the classroom? Encouraging continuity across environments creates consistency, while offering optional parent coaching or webinars helps families reinforce strategies at home.
  3. Create continuous feedback loops. Feedback shouldn’t be confined to end-of-season surveys. Build iterative mechanisms such as short midterm surveys, parent advisory councils, exit reflections, and parent-authored stories that highlight strategies and successes.

Benefits That Cascade Across Systems. When camps, schools, and clinics genuinely partner with parents, the benefits ripple outward: more tailored interventions, improved treatment adherence, stronger school-home alignment, reduced conflict, and earlier identification of support needs. Research from Children’s National Hospital confirms that parent engagement enhances ADHD treatment outcomes.

How This Aligns with Camp Sequoia’s Philosophy: 

At Camp Sequoia. partnership with parents is foundational. The camp’s model emphasizes communication, individualized support, and authentic relationships with families of twice-exceptional and ADHD youth. By inviting parent input and bridging insights across settings, Camp Sequoia honors both research and relationships. In Closing, this ADHD Awareness Month, consider that awareness is only the first step. True progress lies in collaboration. When camps, schools, and clinicians make parents part of the process — not the audience — children benefit from consistent, compassionate, and evidence-based support. In the orchestra of childhood growth, professionals may play many instruments, but parents are the conductors who keep the music in harmony.

References (linked above):

  • https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK72935/
  • https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.733450/full
  • https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=12336&context=dissertations
  • https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271590457_ADHD_parent_perspectives_and_parent-teacher_relationships_grounds_for_conflict
  • https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269041345_Assessing_the_Quality_of_Parent-Teacher_Relationships_for_Students_with_ADHD
  • https://innovationdistrict.childrensnational.org/parent-engagement-in-treatment-benefits-adhd-patients/
  • https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953621000782
  • https://www.camp-sequoia.com/blog/