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Hey MumOfThree --

I just got back from a consultation with my son's pediatrician. She agreed it sounded very much like he has Executive Function issues, but she said for insurance purposed she was coding it as ADHD-inattentive and she wants me to get him evaluated for that. She says insurance companies don't know what to do with EF terminology and she feels ADHD-Inattentive does fit him.

So we are going to go down that route now.

Meanwhile I continue to research ways to help a child with Executive Function issues. This summer we worked on time and time management. Now I'm looking at "getting started on tasks" and "thinking and planning ahead."

Any ideas?

I did just find this resource -- seems a bit old but useful.

http://www.parentcoachcards.com/index.php?page=book

Two books that have been helpful here have been "Smart, But Scattered", and "Late, Lost, and Unprepared".

Smart But Scattered (which was a big help for me, in realizing that the EF shortcomings I was attributing to DD were really "she's not good enough in those areas to compensate for my own EF weaknesses") has some good suggestions for both of those. (I can't copy-paste out of Kindle Cloud Reader, sorry!)

Their suggested method of working on planning and prioritization worked well for us, but DD's issue was mostly "I don't know how to break down this overwhelming task."

We use the Chore Board of Doom (http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b395/allyphoe/Chore%20Board%20of%20Doom/ChoreBoard3.jpg - although the current board has far more items) at our house, and the tasks get done with little nagging. DD can choose what to do when, although if we leave the house without her having washed her face, washing after school does not count. I do give her a prompt to mind her board if I think she's running out of time, but if she runs out of time, the board closes earlier the next night.

I need one of those! For myself!!

Yes, me too!

Thanks for the book suggestions. I've been reading every day since they arrived, especially Smart but Scattered...I don't think it has any magic bullet solutions for us, but I've got a couple of new ideas that I'm going to trial this week...
jojo

Ugh! I can't work out how to cut and paste a pic of my very cool to-do list. I got the idea from Smart but Scattered. It uses velcro to make two lists - one "to do" list and one "done" list. Once a job has been done, the child moves the job to the "done" list. It's great for those that need more than a checklist to keep on track in the morning. Since we've put it into operation this week, I'm less Sergeant-like in the mornings I can email the pic if you're interested...

jojo

Yep, that's what our chore board is from, too. I use dry-erase magnets and a magnet board because we had those, and didn't have velcro.