Smart but Scattered: Executive Dysfunction at Home and at School (DAWSON HS 041380)

Course overview

Children who have deficient executive skills often have trouble getting started on tasks, get distracted easily, lose papers or assignments and forget to hand in homework. They make careless mistakes, put off work until the last minute and have no sense of time urgency. Workspaces are disorganized and teachers often refer to their backpacks or lockers as "black holes." Often considered chronic underachievers, these children are at risk for academic failure as well as emotional and behavioral difficulties. Dr. Dawson, co-author of the best-selling books Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents, 2nd Ed. (Guilford, 2010), Smart but Scattered (Guilford, 2009) and Smart but Scattered Teens (Guilford, 2013), uses case examples along with interactive discussion to demonstrate how the executive skills manifest in daily home and school activities. Learn how to assess these skills and take home evidence-based strategies to help children and adolescents overcome executive skills weaknesses. End this seminar recording with a set of tools that includes strategies for task/environmental modifications, skill development through cognitive/behavioral techniques and creation of incentive systems. You will be able to give teachers and parents a means for developing and improving the following: Organization; Time management; Impulse control; Goal-directed persistence; Executive skills critical for independent functioning