Reply to What do you do if you sense your teen is treading toward loser-ville?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous] Starting tasks, organizing time and materials, prioritizing, etc. are all executive functions. Kids with these problems have trouble "seeing the big picture" or learning from past mistakes without *a lot* of practice. They can feel extreme anxiety about asking for help, fail listen to or read directions, have trouble synthesizing/abstracting past learning on more difficult assignments (math word problems, writing assignments, etc). These kids may appear lazy, spacey, defiant, or unmotivated. Executive function skills can be built. [/quote]

This is all true.  Have you actually sat down to help him start an assignment to see if you can notice any issues? I have a similar sounding kid & mine gives up at the slightest hint of trouble.  Getting zeros, ban on electronics, losing privileges, whatever: all meaningless. But once an assignment is unpacked a little or broken down into more manageable bits, he can do it. Most of his peers are light years ahead in terms of managing their own school work; I know this. I'm sure plenty of people will scream 'helicopter', but with a kid who isn't as mature as others his age and has near zero executive functioning skills, letting him flop around on his own, or ignore his homework & hope it goes away isn't helpful. We work on strategies for coping with each assignment and I proof read them or quiz him to make sure they get done. It's tedious. I don't care if he hates it, he has to learn to prioritize. If I fail and he's still struggling in his 20's, it won't be for lack of trying.[/quote]

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