Helping Students Take Control of Everyday Executive Functions: The Attention Fix

This book presents an innovative model for supporting executive function in students with attention, memory, organisation, planning, inhibition, initiative, and flexibility difficulties, including those with ADHD, ADD, autism spectrum disorders and related conditions.

The author advocates a student-centred approach in which educators first explore 8 key 'ingredients' with the student: relationships; strengths and weaknesses; self-advocacy and responsibility; review and preview; motivation and incentive; synthesis and analysis; rhythm and routine; and practice and repetition. She provides a step-by-step explanation of how these 'ingredients' can then be used in different ways and in different combinations to successfully address particular areas of difficulty. The approach is clearly explained, and the book contains many useful examples, practical tips and strategies, suggested conversation starters, sample time management plans and other tools that can be adapted to meet the particular needs of individual students.

Original and effective, the approach outlined in this book will be of interest to teachers and other professionals involved in supporting executive function in students of all ages, as well as parents and carers.

Table of Contents

Introduction.

Part I: Ingredients.

1. Relationships.
2. Strengths and Weaknesses.
3. Self-Advocacy to Self-Responsibility.
4. Review and Preview: Mental Image.
5. Motivation and Incentive.
6. Synthesis and Analysis: From the Whole to the Parts and from the Parts to the Whole.
7. Rhythm and Routine: Practice and Repetition.
8. Implicit and Explicit.

Part II: Practice and Application: The Executive Functions.

9. Attention.
10. Memory.
11. Organization.
12. Planning.
13. Inhibition and Initiative.
14. Flexibility and/or Shift.
15. Control of Emotion and Control of Behavior.
16. Goals.
17. The Executive Function Map. Specific Approaches.

Conclusion: Golden Rules.

References.

Index.