By Leslie Josel

We tend to think of screens as unwanted distractions for kids with learning differences but in my experience as an academic coach, I’ve found that many students—especially those with executive functioning challenges and ADHD—rely on several study apps. They find them useful, easy to manage, and a natural extension of their recreational tech usage. In other words, they’re more apt to use study apps than other “old school” study methods, and using them is what matters. Following are some of my favorites and theirs:

Habit Hub (free; iOS)

Creating and maintaining daily habits is key to effectively managing ADHD—and it’s also incredibly difficult. Habit Hub aids students by reminding them to perform tasks and visually tracking their progress. It builds a motivating “chain” (A feature my students love!) of each day’s completed tasks. As the chain gets longer, it serves as motivation to keep at the project. Nobody wants to break the chain!

With Habit Hub, your child can customize their tasks into categories. It’s incredibly flexible and makes setting up a routine and staying with it game-like. 

Otter AI (free basic plan; students with an email address ending with “.edu” receive a discount on upgraded versions)

Otter AI offers a much-needed lifeline for students juggling classes, research, exams, and extracurriculars, and it’s especially helpful for students with weak working memory.

This app records audio and automatically takes notes in real-time, so students can focus on the discussion, knowing they’ll have access to the transcript and recording to review and highlight. Once the lecture ends, Otter AI automatically generates a summary, making it easier for students to digest and remember key points and themes. The app also captures lecture slides and adds them to notes, which helps students recall the details with full context. The app’s keyword search capabilities are crucial for promoting more effective notetaking.

Brainly (free to join)

I  can’t say enough about Brainly. Picture this: It’s 11 p.m., and your child is stumped by their homework, but it’s too late to reach out to a friend or teacher. Now, they have an alternative. Brainly is a knowledge-sharing community where hundreds of millions of students and experts work together to crack the toughest homework questions.

With the app, your child can search a knowledge base of millions of school subject questions. Both students and experts provide answers and support. Moderators keep things kind and collaborative. And experts verify the quality of answers.

Brainly is geared toward middle- and high-school students but is gaining popularity in the college setting as well.

SimpleMind (free basic platform)

Many of my students love mind mapping, a more natural form of note-taking used to brainstorm, plan, and make connections between ideas. It speaks to their creativity and lends a visual aspect to notetaking and studying.

SimpleMind can organize your child’s thoughts by creating a mind map, which can then be synchronized across multiple platforms and shared with others. The app allows users to add photos, videos, and even voice recordings. My students especially like that they can select different layouts and customize the appearance of their mind maps.

StayFocused (free)

If your child is endlessly scrolling through their social media or getting lost on the Internet when they should be working or studying, StayFocusd may rescue them.

This self-control and productivity extension for Google Chrome allows users to block distracting apps and websites according to defined conditions. Your child can block out a specific schedule, set a daily usage limit, or even set a goal-based limit. In other words, it allows users to take a break from their phones and focus on homework without relying solely on self-control.

Todoist (free beginner plan, upgrades available for a monthly fee)

With so many to-do list apps, I couldn’t choose one I preferred. This is where I relied on my students’ preferences. Todoist is their top pick for the following reasons:

• It’s available on all platforms and devices.
• The design is distraction-free, which allows students to be super detailed with their tasks. Your child can use Todoist to add steps to projects, set due dates, color code priorities, and create recurring tasks effortlessly.
• My students say the app is super user-friendly.

Leslie Josel is the Principal of  Order Out of Chaos, an organizing consulting firm specializing in student organizing. She is the author of several books, including How to Do It Now…Because It’s Not Going Away, as well as the creator of the award-winning Academic Planner: A Tool for Time Management. This post was adapted from ADDitude Magazine where Josel writes a weekly column called Dear ADHD Family Coach®