Smart but Scattered: The Revolutionary "Executive Skills" Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential,   ISBN:9781593854454

Customer Rating: 

This book provides interesting background, though it excludes so many areas of psychology and neurophysiology. I do like very much the way executive function is broken into the specific areas of skill acquisition. And the real life examples provided to illustrate struggles are excellent. As both a clinician and a parent, I find the solutions offered completely unrealistic for all except the youngest children - maybe 8 and under. It is a very good attempt at tackling this emerging science in comprehensible terms for parents and professionals who work with children. My biggest criticism is on the section regarding organization. If that is your primary concern as a reader, look elsewhere. This section is not correct and very inadequate.

Customer Rating: 

This book becomes interesting after reading moe than half. In the beginning, you feel that you are reading for a psychology class or an exam. I prefer books with concrete and direct suggestions on what to do in a speific situation.
In addition to the problems I already have, I get frustrated flipping back and forth to remind myslef what I read 2 chapters ago. Too much information for a non professional. Didn't have a chnace to implement anything because takes too long to read and the author discourages to implement any techniques beore finishing the book.

Customer Rating: 

I am a child/adolescent psychologist. This book is excellent in terms of helping you identify areas in need of support and providing practical ways to help support kids to be more successful at home and at school. I highly recommend it to parents, teachers, and psychologists. The content is particularly relevant for intermediate elementary grades, middle school, and high school students.

Customer Rating: 

As a Special Ed. teacher, I found this book to be very helpful. It is user friendly and has easy to use forms. I was originally looking for information as to how to get my students organized with homework and day to day tasks. This book had what I was looking for and some. I recommend it for teachers and parents as well.

Customer Rating: 

Dawson and Guare have delievered a great book at a more than reasonable price. This book is recommedned to parents, by our school team, when they have a have a child with executive function difficulties. It gives them real tools to work with their child and reduce frustrations at home. I gave it to all of my educator/psychologist friends becasue it is a great reference to help parents help their kids. You can even apply some of the tools listed to yourself if you are a "scattered" adult!