Joshua Langberg understands the daily struggles of students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Growing up he hated going to school, earned poor grades and was criticized for not meeting expectations. “Until about the 10th grade, most of my grades were C’s, D’s and F’s,” said Langberg, who was never evaluated for ADHD, a condition not widely understood or diagnosed during the 1980s when he was growing up. “So, I know what it’s like to be told you’re failing and not living up to expectations. That’s the daily experience of someone with ADHD.”
Rather than being defeated by those struggles, Langberg, a licensed clinical psychologist and director of the Center for Youth Social Emotional Wellness at Rutgers, turned them into a lifelong mission to support others facing similar challenges. He spent years running after-school programs for middle school students with ADHD by developing a compassionate, practical approach to help struggling learners succeed.
“The key is to help people succeed by starting small,” he said. “We break things down into smaller steps and allow students to build success, instead of overwhelming them with impossible expectations like getting straight A’s immediately.”
Today, as the university’s chief wellness officer and professor in the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Langberg is leading a team researching new ways to help college students with ADHD thrive academically and personally. His latest initiative is directing a $3.2 million National Institute of Mental Health grant with new research exploring how virtual reality can help college students with ADHD minimize distractions and stay focused. To read the full story.