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Smart but Scattered Adolescent Workshop

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A parent described her son to me, “Sam is struggling with school and his grades. This year in 6th grade he is struggling with the workload, executive functioning, and expectations of the grade. The demands are more. I constantly have to stay on top of him or he’d be failing.”  This mom was describing her son’s executive functioning weaknesses. He was smart but scattered. Executive functioning skills are crucial for success in school, social settings, and everyday life.

One Day Executive Functioning Skills Workshop for Grades 6-9

On Saturday, March 22, my team and I are offering an in-person one day executive functioning course for students in grades 6 through 9.  Your student can join us fun, interactive activities to learn executive functioning skills related to Organization, Planning, Time Management, Memory, and Attention. The group size is limited to 12 students.  We use classroom instruction combined with games, scenarios, and videos to illustrate points and practice skills. Students receive written handouts to keep which summarize the new skills.

How to Develop Executive Functioning Skills

Developing executive functioning skills is an ongoing process in adolescence, and teens often need instruction to improve these areas. Weak executive functioning skills can impact academic performance, relationships, and overall well-being, so interventions like workshops and coaching can be helpful if your teen struggles in these areas.

Adolescents face academic pressures, social dynamics, and life changes. Teens with strong executive functioning skills can handle uncertainty and stressful situations with more resilience. By understanding and supporting the development of these skills, your student can improve their ability to navigate the complexities of adolescence and prepare for greater independence as they grow into adulthood. Join us so your student can learn these important skills for success.

Students from our last workshop completed a course evaluation and commented they enjoyed, “The engaging activities.” “The skills it taught me.” “The coaches.” “How interactive it was.” “It helped me understand more about how to approach challenging things.”

Contact Us to Sign Up for the Executive Functioning Skills Workshop

Call (561) 625 4125 if you would like to sign up or if you need school neuropsychological testing for dyslexia, ADHD, autism, or to give you understanding and answers about your child.  Check out the book I wrote on executive functioning and available on Amazon.

Helping Disorganized, Forgetful, and Scattered Adolescents

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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.

Inflexible Children Struggle

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Inflexible children struggle. “We don’t spring any unexpected changes on him or he has a huge meltdown,” explained one mom.  Her eight-year-old son had daily tantrums when things did not go his way.  Mom was concerned he might have ADHD so we evaluated him to determine the root cause of his meltdowns. Our evaluation showed it was not ADHD but rather he had executive functioning difficulty with shifting attention and cognitive flexibility.

One Track Mind

Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “That person has a one-track mind.” That saying captures what happens when inflexible people get something stuck in their minds and they can’t get it out.  They perseverate.  Their brain is like a train riding down a track and it can’t make a shift to a new track until it gets to a junction.  Unfortunately for some people, their brain goes on for ‘miles’ before it reaches a junction.  As a parent you might think, “Just get over it and move on” but it is not that easy for your child.

Transition Difficulty

Inflexible children often have difficulty making transitions at home and at school.  They often see things their way and have difficulty going with the flow.  This contributes to their melt downs and stubbornness. Inflexible children are not always pleasant to be around.  They can be bossy when playing and want to do things their way.  This inflexibility can create friendship issues with same age peers and inflexible children might prefer to play with younger children whom they can boss around.

Executive Functioning

The term executive functioning describes our brain’s management system.  Kids with executive functioning difficulty need to learn skills rather than take pills to help them.  Mom was happy medication was not the answer for her child. “My Day is Ruined!: A Story Teaching Flexible Thinking” by Bryan Smith is a book you can read with your child to teach skills.

 Call (561) 625 4125 to discuss your child as we test for executive functioning difficulty, autism, dyslexia, ADHD, and more.

Executive Functioning In Smart but Scattered Kids

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Executive functioning is an umbrella term for many different activities of the brain that orchestrate goal-directed action. Executive functions include your child’s ability to: focus, decide what is important, set goals, use prior knowledge, initiate action, manage time, self-monitor performance, use self restraint, and remain flexible.

Executive Functioning Difficulties Look Like This

Imagine you have an eight-year-old son and he is a hot mess. When he arrives home from school he leaves his shoes in the middle of the kitchen and his book bag in the middle of the foyer. At some point he makes himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The bread bag is left open, the lid is off the peanut butter jar, a sticky knife slathered with peanut butter and drips of jelly are on the counter. When you find him gaming, there’s a sea of crumbs on his chair and the family dog has licked his plate clean. This boy has executive functioning difficulties.

Executive functions help modulate our attention, effort, and emotion so that we can plan, organize, and respond independently, consistently, and predictably. Having well developed executive functions helps children regulate their behavior in social settings and their output on academic tasks. These are smart kids who get the big picture but lack follow through on many important details.  Your child might need you to act as his or her executive assistant.

Support Your Child

To help your child provide scaffolding of skills which are provide temporary supports as your child’s executive functioning skills evolve.  Do enough to support but not enable your child.  Second, help create systems of support such as checklists, technology reminders, following a consistent schedule, and organizing materials.  Third, sustain your child’s strengths as our strengths often become our careers and passions in life.  Learn more in my book The Disorganized, Impulsive Child: Solutions for Parenting Kids with Executive Functioning Difficulties.

Test Your Child’s Executive Functioning

Executive functioning difficulties often co-occur with ADHD and learning disabilities.  We can test your child’s executive functioning and provide specific solutions to help at home and in school.  Dr. Forgan is a licensed school psychologist and certified dyslexia testing specialist and can help you at (561) 625 4125.