Helping Disorganized, Forgetful, and Scattered Adolescents

A parent described her eighth-grade son to me, “He has struggles following multiple oral instructions at the same time. His information retention in the short term is challenging especially for un-preferred topics. He has completed homework and forgot to turn it in. He waits until the last minute to start projects. What a hot mess!”

Executive Functioning Workshop Teens

This mom was describing her son’s executive functioning weaknesses.  The term “executive functioning” encompasses our brain’s ability to manage different systems such as planning, organizing, maintaining effort, remembering, self-regulating, attending, and completing tasks.  School success depends, in part, on having strong executive functioning skills.  Executive functioning weaknesses can cause smart kids to become scattered, disorganized, and forgetful.  These weaknesses might be accompanied with ADHD or learning disabilities but can also be stand alone difficulties.  Our executive functions improve with age and fully mature in our late teen years to early twenties. Thus, there’s hope for your student’s growth.

Learn Skills to Improve

Executive functioning skills can be learned, practiced and improved.  This month I am offering an in-person executive functioning course for students in grades 6 through 9.  Your student can join another school psychologist and myself for three, 90-minute sessions of fun, interactive activities to learn executive functioning skills related to Organization, Planning, Time Management, Memory, and Attention. The group size is limited to 10 students.

Grades 6-9 Mastermind Workshop

We will use games, scenarios, and videos to illustrate points and practice skills. Students receive written handouts to keep which summarize the new skills. We are approaching this mastermind course for teens using a cognitive behavioral framework. That means that if you can change your thinking and learn new skills, you can change your behavior.  Your student can learn skills for success this year and beyond.  Are you tired of being your child’s only executive assistant and ready for your adolescent to hear about success skills from someone other than yourself?

If you want to learn more about executive functioning check out my book The Impulsive, Disorganized Child: Solutions for Parenting Kids with Executive Functioning Difficulties. Call (561) 625 4125 if you would like to sign up or if you need school neuropsychological testing to give you understanding and answers.