Smart but Scattered Teens The "Executive Skills" Program for Helping Teens Reach Their Potential

Many tens of thousands of parents have used the bestselling Smart but Scatteredto teach young kids vital skills for living up to their potential. Now Drs. Richard Guare and Peg Dawson apply their groundbreaking approach to the unique challenges of adolescence. Despite high intelligence, teens with executive skills deficits can be frustratingly disorganized, distractible, forgetful, and moody-leaving worried parents torn between micromanaging and throwing up their hands. This positive guide gives parents step-by-step strategies for promoting teens' independence by helping them get organized, stay focused, and control their impulses. Drs. Guare and Dawson-joined by Colin Guare, a young adult who has successfully faced these issues himself-present proven tools, vivid stories, and insightful tips for reducing parentteen conflicts.

Richard Guare, PhD, is Director of the Center for Learning and Attention Disorders in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where Peg Dawson, EdD, works as a clinical school psychologist. With over 30 years of clinical experience, Drs. Dawson and Guare are coauthors of the bestselling Smart but Scattered, which focuses on younger children and preteens. Colin Guare, a 25-year-old freelance writer who grew up with an attention disorder, has contributed to ADDitude magazine and has worked with kids with learning disorders.

Authors' Note Introduction I. What Makes Your Teen Smart but Scattered 1. Executive Skills and the Teen Brain 2. Identifying Your Teen's Executive Skills Strengths and Weaknesses 3. Assessing Your Own Executive Skills and Parenting Style II. Laying a Foundation That Can Help 4. Ten Principles for Improving Your Teen's Executive Skills 5. Motivating Your Teen to Use Executive Skills 6. Modifying the Environment 7. Teaching Executive Skills III. Putting It All Together 8. Advance Organizer 9. Enhancing Response Inhibition 10. Strengthening Working Memory 11. Increasing Emotional Control 12. Boosting Flexibility 13. Building Sustained Attention 14. Teaching Task Initiation 15. Promoting Planning and Prioritizing 16. Fostering Organization 17. Improving Time Management 18. Encouraging Goal-Directed Persistence 19. Cultivating Metacognition 20. Coaching 21. Transitions Resources