Late, Lost, and Unprepared: A Parents' Guide to Helping Children with Executive Functioning Paperback – October 24, 2008

This book is outstanding. If your child is "late, lost, and unprepared" -- get this book. The authors give phenomenal insights into what the child exhibiting executive functioning deficiencies is experiencing, give good general guidelines, and provide great specific suggestions for both short- and long-term. I use this to help my child's school understand why my exceptionally bright child is doing poorly; how they need to, as the book says, "take a teaching versus a punishing approach"; set expectations well; and praise even small successes. This book is now our executive (dis)functioning bible. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

This book helped me to understand what executive dysfunction is and gave suggestions as to how to deal with it. It is written in an easy to understand format and gives some concrete examples of certain issues. I found it very helpful to understand why my son was struggling with planning and organization both at school and at home. I learned that it is OK to provide a "prosthetic environment" to assist him. It made me feel better about how much assistance he seems to need even thought other kids his age don't. It gives ways to help the child gain the skills they will need to succeed in life in a positive manner. I would definitely recommend this book to any parent who just does not understand why their child seems to be "Late, Lost, and Unprepared".

I checked this book out of the library on a friend's recommendation and liked it well enough to buy it. The authors use clear, concise language to describe executive function (or lack thereof) and offer useful strategies while recognizing that every individual comes to the table with a unique set of strengths and weaknesses. As the parent of two with PDD/ADHD, I have read extensively on both disorders and came to realize that no easy cookie-cutter solutions exist. What worked with one child often did not work with the other, and progress (and we saw remarkable progress over time) was incremental.Perhaps the best thing about the book was its accessibility to those outside the medical profession. Others have commented, and I agree, that those who've been in the trenches for awhile will be familiar with most of what's presented. For those new to the diagnosis (or any that involves deficits in executive function)and for teachers and caretakers, the book is a marvelous introduction. I will be reprinting one page for distribution to teachers at my child's back-to-school staffing, because the passage describes my child perfectly.An excellent reference book.

While my son does not have AD/HD, many of his executive function skills are lagging so his occupational therapist recommended this book. While I was already practicing many of the author's suggestions, it reminded me that the process is often "two steps forward, one step back". I was then able to look at my son's progress from a more neutral position and not get so frustrated with him. Most of the suggestions are very practical and easy to initiate. I especially found the information on "natural consequences" helpful in reinforcing that it's not always appropriate to just let kids fail. As parents, sometimes we need to provide extra support during the learning process. I find myself referring to this book over and over again as I work towards turning my son into an independent learner.

I really expected to find exercises here, something where I could HELP MY KID. It reads as a "here's what you should know before you get your kid tested." Sigh. I didn't need a book for that. I needed a book to actually *help*.

There are many such books out there and I have read a few. This book helped me to teach my significantly disorganized teen how to be better prepared for school. Step by step, little by little, these suggested techniques worked wonders and sanity was restored to our family. I liked how this book addresses the underlying causes and coexisting conditions, such as e mild learning disabilities (math deficits, short term memory issues, AD/HD, dyslexia) or other problems such as anxiety and depression. This book is directive, easy to use, and walks parents through the process of working with teachers and finding outside experts to evaluate and create programs which help. The end result of 4 years of hard work and patience? A young adult who is organized, successful, confident and ---most importantly----HAPPY!

I am a therapist and counselor for young adults with disabilities, presently working in a community college. I have collected a large resource library over the years, and this book is one of my favorites. Here is my review that I also posted elsewhere: Excellent book organization for quick reference on-the-spot. Clear yet thorough description of Executive Functioning developmentally. Outstanding resource to address multiple specific issues with user-friendly concrete solutions. An exceptional book for providing not only "what" strategies to use, but also the process for teaching those strategies both for the short-term and the long-term. Provides detailed list of references used (professional books/journals/research) and detailed index.

This book is an outstanding guide for parents. It is packed with step-by-step strategies and real-life scenarios as examples for each executive function. The presentation is well organized and the language is simple, clear, and concise. This book is one of those that one can manage to read through quickly and then go back to read and think thoroughly -- this is a plus because some books are loaded with way too much details that one would have a hard time even reading through once. The authors are great coaches -- they even wrote the book in such a way that one can manage to read through fairly painless and that's brilliant.

This book, as per my reading experience, is good one but could be a lot better. The ideas are also good but nothing that stands out so much that it made me jump out and try to implement it.- the structuring of the book can be improved. Given the long read, you cannot quickly come to a section that age appropriate for your child. If this is your first resource on Executive Functioning, then you might find it more helpful than I did.- A simple listing of ALL executive functioning at the start of the book explaining what they are and what they cover from parents perspective, could be helpful. I had read articles about executive functioning before which were far more clear and I think they gave a better start on the concept. For a completely new parent, this could be a bit confusing.- some of the interventions are really paragraphs spoken to a child. Some do not seem appropriate. Like - 'think before you say something to your friend.' If a child could do that just on telling, there wouldn't be so much issue in the first place! In my experience, such children space out before we even get to the second line.

This is a fabulous book. Joyce Cooper-Kahn has done a remarkable job in explaining the topic of Executive Functioning so that a parent such as myself can understand what it is all about. She has explained it in such relatable details of various age groups, settling & daily situations that one can see while reading her book how executive function effects all aspect of life. Her insight into this topic is like no other. I have a far better understanding of what is, how it can impact life & what I can do to strategy wise in making things better for those around me diagnose with low executive functioning. There is topic I am certain very few people know about & many more should. Educating ourselves on executive function with Joyce Cooper-Kahn book can & will make the world a better place for all but most importantly in a direct way to those effected by the way of being. What an incredibly insight this well thought out, organized and carefully crafted book this is. As jam packed with such useful & relatable information & ways to manage in an improving wealth of hope to help those that are impacted in various degrees of Executive Functioning challenges. With this book & it valuable information I feel I can positively help in an area I have just recently duscovered I need to be more knowledgeable of. So thank Joyce Cooper-Kahn for this amazing knowledge your book has empowered me with.

Das Buch übertrifft alle meine Erwartungen. Ich denke, dass viele Menschen, denen ein ADHS bescheinigt wird eine exekutive Störung haben.

This is one of the most helpful books that I have ever read on the subject of kids' preparation for school and tasks in general. The book is well written and easy-to-read with helpful examples at hand. Will definitely purchase it again!

This is an extremely useful, clearly written resource written for families of children with executive functioning challenges. It's helpful for professionals too.