Can someone tell me about Unstuck and On Target?
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Anonymous
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I saw it recommended here. It is focused on kids with autism but it seems it would be applicable to anyone with executive functioning challenges and rigid/inflexible thinking.
Has anyone read the book and implemented the strategies? Have you seen improvement? Does your child’s school use it? Would this work for an child with ADHD? Are there any teachers here and have you had this training? Does it help manage classroom behavior better? Reading the book now. Just hoping for some personal feedback from others. TIA. |
Anonymous
| My autistic child and I took the class at ivymount. It was most useful in giving us a shared language to talk about flexibility. They also did the groupings really well and we got some friends out of it. |
Anonymous
| The strategies do work for kids with ADHD. The hardest part for us is actually remembering to use them. |
Anonymous
| Fair-Good depending on what information you already have and way too expensive for what it is |
Anonymous
I agree with this. DS has ADHD, possible ASD. Major executive function issues. We did the class and got some good information, though we did not do a great job of implementing. I think a lot depends on your kid and the specific issues. It was clear that some other parents in the class were getting good results from the strategies, so YMMV. It is pricey (and a little overpriced), but that also makes it harder to blow off—it really is predicated on both parents and child attending. In some ways, that may have been the biggest benefit—DH has been slower to accept/acknowledge impacts of ADHD+ for DS, and this helped him really see the issues and understand better. I think it was worth it. |
Anonymous
| NP here: What are the most useful tips? |
Anonymous
The most useful things for use was narrating your being flexible out loud/narrating your feelings as you deal with frustration; praising his flexibility even if it's something small so that he can see that yes, he's capable of being flexible; and offering the choice of: "You can choose to be flexible and [get plan B] or you can choose to be stuck and [get nothing]" and to truly let them make that choice -- but that phrasing has been really, really helpful for us. |
Anonymous
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OP here. I just got the book for less than $30 and it seems pretty good. Just started so I don’t know outcomes yet.
Solving Executive Function Challenges: Simple Ways to Get Kids with Autism Unstuck and on Target https://www.amazon.com/dp/1598576038/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_algGCbNZBA7B9 |
Anonymous
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We did the class through CAAT with our DD who has ADHD/anxiety. She was the only girl and (I think) the only one without a formal ASD diagnosis. The kids meet with their own facilitators and the parents are next door with a different facilitator. It is an executive function intervention and while pioneered with ASD kids, I understand that some new publications will be coming out showing its effectiveness for ADHD.
We all thought it was really helpful. The shared language/scripts is very helpful in our day-to-day interactions and I like that she learned it independently of us, which seems to help it stick more with her that she learned it from a trusted adult and not from her parents. We use the Goal/Why/Plan/Do/Check process for lots of problem-solving in our daily lives and it really resonates with her. We also now whiteboard everything! It has reduced a lot of conflict between us in the house, as we can now blame a bad plan when things go awry and not the kid. Although I'd like to think we were pretty on board with each other as parents, and with being understanding with our DD, it did illuminate ways in which we were not being realistic about our own expectations for her. There is a lot of helpful focus on things we think our kids WON'T do, when their executive function challenges mean that they really CAN'T do it (without scaffolds/support/motivation). |