My thoughts on a contentious issue. Not super scientific, but I pointed to several resources:
Harris Cooper synthesized research in the mid 90's, and is often cited as support for giving kids homework: https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/03/homework-research-how-much/585889/
Alfie Kohn, author of "The Homework Myth" takes issue with Cooper's conclusions. Read him here: https://www.edutopia.org/no-proven-benefits 
As I often do, I looked back in my library at an old favorite- Classroom Instruction that Works by Marzano, Pickering, and Pollack- get a copy on Amazon (holy cow, it's cheap!) https://www.amazon.com/Classroom-Instruction-that-Works-Research-Based/dp/0131195034
Takeaways: when judging the value of homework, consider the purpose of the task, don't use it as an assessment, keep the routine and structure familiar, check for understanding, and give timely feedback.  ​

You can follow the podcast here, or look it up on your favorite platform.  Please consider leaving your own voice message and I'll do my best to continue talking to interesting people who have helpful things to say. :)

Click on the thumbnails for a description and link to the resources we mention concerning the need for restorative practices- that is, ways to teach students to effectively right wrongs and to build relationships while coping with conflict.

I'm wrapping up one of those weeks that blows up on midway on Monday and rolls like a boulder down a hill from there- which has me thinking about 'planning.'

When I work with individuals on organization, my first tip is always to eliminate the unnecessary, or to contain it to a predetermined space.  I've found quite a few of us fit a 'ready for anything' profile- don't you carry a flashlight, and hand sanitizer, and a protein bar, and hand wipes, and a first aid kit, and backup notebooks, etc in your backpack? No? The line can be tough to toe, and for those of us with ADHD, organization is only one example of an area where 'minimizing' is key.

I've found great success with one planner in particular- I love my Panda Planner. It has a vertical layout, and my daily routine is to identify up to five priorities. I self monitor and can see my time. I have a series of tasks in my weekly section I can tick off, so some flexibility, and a place- and this is important- to reflect each evening on what went well, and what I need to adjust.

Self-awareness is HUGE. I'm writing this post for two reasons.

One, to introduce the idea that planning is an incredible strategy and teaching tool for anyone struggling with some executive functioning issues, for a lot of reasons. It can help set priorities, monitor progress, organize tasks, teach time estimation...

But second, to connect with this idea that reflecting on both parts of the process in the title. Without reflection, it's tough to develop a realistic, effective plan. And stepping back to evaluate how the execution went increases the likelihood that you'l be able to adapt and succeed in the future.

When I work with families, I emphasize that outlining initial expectations and following up to evaluate and learn are a big part of my approach. 

Still, some weeks look like that second graphic- and that's were the 'cognitive flexibility' comes in. :)

Every one of us has what could be described as 'scattered skills,' but for some children this uneven distribution of strengths and deficits aligns in a way that makes their needs tough to identify. Twice exceptional children by definition are diagnosed as being both gifted and having a disability.

For example- Jaden makes instant connections from one concept to another, and his memory is remarkable. He is able to contribute great insight to conversations at home and at school. But he isn't able to demonstrate his understanding of concepts on tests, and both his teacher and parents feel he doesn't take tests or school work seriously. What they don't know is that Jaden has dyslexia, but learned very early on to compensate and to read at grade level despite issues processing. It's very hard work for him, however- and he's also confused when he sees peers comprehending written tasks without much issue around him.

Vanessa is creative and can cite facts about anything she takes an interest in like a 'human encyclopedia.' When she hears something in class, it's locked in her brain forever, and she understands it well- IF- she's paying attention. Anyone familiar with her knows it's important to get Vanessa's attention frequently, because she's a daydreamer. Unfortunately, because she's often thinking of something else, she constantly misses directions, misplaces items, or fails to carry out tasks. Her mom has tried just about everything to keep her on track. But despite feeling good about her test scores, Vanessa is stressed about lost items, missing homework, and her teachers' obvious disappointment.

Again, all of us have a wide range of ability, with strengths and weaknesses. But 2E is definitely a thing. How do you know if it's just typical kid stuff or a real issue? I think the level of effort a child puts in to being successful should be considered along with any scores or numbers, and when you see a negative trend over time or decreasing self esteem, it's time to consider getting more information, and possibly a comprehensive evaluation that can look at types of intelligence and skills, like executive functioning.

Once you have taken a look at what may be impacting your child, accommodations might be considered to help them have more success. For Jaden, having tests read aloud or hearing the directions for a science lab before starting might free up a lot of bandwidth so he can shine.  For Vanessa, a new seat at the front of the room and the use of timers could be helpful- especially if her teacher has a new awareness of what she needs and takes care to make eye contact with her when giving important directions.

​It's important for children to recognize areas of need while not focusing on them exclusively- so while you can work on strategies for reading fluency, note taking, or even attentive listening, never lose sight of their strengths! 

Summer can be rough!  Structure is comforting, and kids might feel anxious about an uncertain schedule.  I'm linking to a set of resources available for FREE at Understood.org (darn, they are good...) to give you some ideas to alleviate back to school and summer anxiety.

I'll be posting soon about how attention, anxiety, and executive function are linked- but I'd like to share here, briefly- the amygdala is the 'fight or flight' part of our brain, and when we are feeling uneasy, our frontal lobe, or the executive functioning/air traffic control part of the brain just CAN'T.  So a sense of safety and control is essential for our kids to learn, and as parents, we can help alleviate some of that stress by going over a plan.

More on that soon... enjoy the resource- lots of 'back to school' stuff to browse, and I'm not sure how I feel about that!

If you'd like more help implementing these strategies, contact me or consider registering for the middle school workshop on August 11.

Being late and losing things is HARD. No one likes to frantically search for an important paper or keys, but 'put it away in the same place' is really challenging for some of us! Losing track of time can lead to some pretty negative consequences, and yet some people struggle constantly to end one task, begin another, and meet deadlines or arrive on time.

So why can't some of us help it? How can you help your middle schooler become more successful- not just in school, but throughout life?

When I work with families, I'm quick to admit that working memory, organization, and time management are NOT natural strengths of mine.  This puts me in an oddly advantageous position- think of the college professor who 'taught' math, but was so good at it, they had difficulty explaining the 'how'. I've spent my whole life working on strategies myself, then with my students, then my own kids... 

Especially when I was coteaching with 5th and 6th graders, I recognized the importance of teaching independent functioning skills- especially in cases where students had been provided accommodations for years. Identifying skill gaps and promoting independence has been a passion of mine for a long time! I recently attended training through Rush University's Neurobehavioral department on Executive Functioning, and am excited to share my teacher/parent spin on this with families. If your child has ADHD or struggles with procrastination, transitioning from one task to another, organizing materials, or planning independently, I urge you to attend! We'll go over a little 'why' to help understand patterns of behavior that occur, then a lot of 'how' these can be shaped with practice.

I believe parents can make a huge difference by becoming more aware of the way their kids' brains are working, then teaming up with their children to plan for, monitor, and reflect on change.  (I think parents can improve their skills, too!) The format of the 90 minute workshop is 30 minutes only with kids, 30 with the whole family, and 30 with just parents, so you will have a chance to meet and socialize with other families who have similar struggles. We'll explore in depth strategies based on evidence to promote your child's long-term success in time management and organization.

Your child has a diagnosis- maybe from your family doctor.  Maybe you've sought out expertise, had them evaluated, and got answers.  Then, you bring your report to the school, or even the expert- and have been told your child doesn't qualify for special education services.  What??  
When you request the school take a look at your child and evaluate them, they need to either agree, or tell you why they don't think an evaluation is warranted.  Often, they will point to test scores as 'evidence' that the student is fine, and that their diagnosis or disability isn't linked to any 'negative educational impact.'

Here's what I think about that...  

The most common test I've seen used in districts throughout Chicago and the burbs is the MAP/NWEA.  This is given three times a year, in the fall, winter, and spring.  I actually like this test- as a teacher, I was lucky to have gotten really decent professional development in how to use the sub-scores to make effective groupings, reteach academic vocabulary, and to watch for strengths and weaknesses class wide, so it was a great tool for me.  Years and years ago, we gave the ISAT- and scores came back much too late for us to adjust instruction for a particular class.  

I also like it because we're using the same format and norms to report on kids' progress over time.  It's presented in a really nice way, as well- each item is presented on a computer screen one question at a time.  It can be paused.  It has accommodations built in like text to speech and screen magnification options.   (After losing weeks of instructional time reading tests aloud to individual students, this text to speech thing makes me want to cry!)  And it reports out with visuals that are easy to interpret.

Here's the reason MAP can be so misleading- frequently students have great vocabulary, learn in class, and can use their strategies in math and reading, but have difficulty compared to peers because they need to expend extra effort or take more time.  This isn't as apparent when the child is given one question, clicks once, and moves on to another task.  It's much more likely to appear when the child has to get materials from point a to point b, to carry out a series of steps (especially if given in narrative form) or to carry out a project that requires sustained effort and repetition or revision.

Further, report cards are really subjective, and grading varies from teacher to teacher!  So while some students might be identified as struggling because they are terrible at turning in homework, others might look like they're not experiencing issues because their teachers aren't assigning grades to tasks that require the time management, planning, and organization skills I described above.

If you've asked for an IEP and the school refused, especially after a diagnosis from an outside evaluator, you are undoubtedly feeling frustrated.  Students who don't qualify for an IEP should be given a 504 plan with accommodations, but I worry a bit about 'accommodating' a student who has a long-term skill gap, since an accommodation is a workaround, not direct, extra instruction to help them become more independent long term.

I'm going to highlight some key points from the letter released in July 2016 by the U.S. Department of Education, in an effort to clarify what schools are supposed to do to help students with ADHD.  This one's a keeper- and thankfully was not rescinded with other documents in fall 2017.  

Here's a summary of some of the statements in the letter that may be of interest to you!

The district should evaluate, as part of the 'child find' process, and student who: has an ADHD diagnosis, especially if the following signs are present: considerable restlessness or inattention inappropriate for their age and grade level, trouble organizing tasks and activities, communication or social skill deficits.  (That's most of them!)

GPA should not be used to exclude a child from consideration for specialized services, rather, school districts should ask how difficult it is or how much time it takes for a student with ADHD, in comparison to a student without ADHD, to plan, begin, complete, and turn in an essay, term paper, homework assignment, or exam. (Boom!)

School districts run afoul of the Section 504 obligation to evaluate for disability and need for special education or related services when they: 1) rigidly insist on first implementing interventions before conducting an evaluation, or that each tier of a multi-tiered model of intervention must be implemented first, regardless of whether or not a disability is suspected and there are needs based on the disability; or 2) categorically require that data from an intervention strategy must be collected and incorporated as a necessary element of an evaluation. (If the parent has notified the school of the disability, they cannot deny or delay the evaluation so they can 'try interventions' first.)

The team must consider the student, in an unmitigated state, both in and out of school.  A student might not exhibit serious academic or behavioral challenges at school – perhaps due to self-management skills, or medication of which the school district may or may not be aware, or the nature of the impairment – but, in other settings, or later in the day, the limitations become more apparent and substantial. (Extra supports like therapy and medicine might help, but the school should consider their performance without them, and provide a 504 even if they are successful with the supports.)

If the school district is noticing issues with a student and suspects ADHD, they need to provide a medical exam as part of the evaluation.  Parents can volunteer to obtain one from their own doctor, but the school needs to make it clear that this is voluntary, and not wait on the parent's ability to access a doctor.  (If I had a nickel for every time...)

Finally, a gifted student may still need specific and explicit instruction on how to reliably record homework assignments, organize information into class notes, start a multi-stage project, write more efficiently, or respond to challenges to his or her attention or concentration in day-to-day activities. These could all require more support than is available in general education, and qualify as special education.

The link to the letter is here.

I hope that information is helpful!  If you have questions, post comments here, or contact me for a free consultation.

"Sorry, bud, it's raining, so we can't go to the game today."  "I know you like the blue car, but a friend is playing with it today- why can't you take the red or the yellow one?" "Because there is an assembly, we won't go to art today. We will draw in class after."

Does the thought of conveying a change in plan to your child fill you with anxiety?  Then you may have some experience with a rigid thinker.  

Binary thinking (all black or white, all good or all bad) can affect all of us to different degrees and in different contexts.  In academics, kids need to be able to use a variety of skills or strategies, and to adjust using logic and problem solving.  In social situations, what works with one group is often unlikely to work in another.    Flexible thinkers learn to step back, reflect, and consider doing things in a new or different way- a complex skill!  

Not being flexible in thinking is like trying to shove a round peg in a square hole- repeatedly.

So what to do? 

In the short term, accommodate!  Use timers, reminders, visual schedules and representations to help support those transition times with concrete boundaries, emphasizing the predictable.  Social stories can help if you are able to anticipate an upsetting or novel event.  Anchors (like fidgets) and mindfulness practices can also help a child regain calm and deal with changes in routine.  


In the long term, teach, create opportunities for practice, and help your child be metacognitive about their mental flexibility!  There are strategies that can be used to develop flexible thinking- though brain imaging shows some individuals think differently and that switching tasks or perceptions can be much more difficult for them... the best path for you will depend on your child.

Check out links to articles on flexible thinking in the resources section.  

"He is unmotivated to do math."  "She is smart, but needs to focus on work."  "She makes careless mistakes."  "He won't work unless constantly redirected."  "I am ignoring his behaviors because I know he's acting this way to get my attention."

Teaching writing workshop, many, many times students would ask- "How do I spell ___?" I'd respond, "Do your best."  But what does that mean?  Depending on their age, maybe the students would spell the word phonetically.  Maybe they could look it up.  Ask a neighbor?  Write a completely different and often not as interesting word?

I then shifted to teaching those strategies, plus some they came up with (like writing the first letter, leaving a blank space, and waiting for 'spelling help time' at the end of the period.  We had an anchor chart of spelling strategies, and they learned a skill.  Much more specific, right?

Long ago, when I was a young classroom teacher and thought I was soooooo smart, I remember writing or saying quite a few of these statements myself.  (I also thought kids should do homework every night, but that's a whole other post.)
I  had point sheets, stickers, notes home, even detentions in place to keep my students on the straight and narrow.

It took quite awhile and maybe some kids of my own to show me that what I'd always perceived as 'lack of effort' or 'attention seeking behavior' was actually a big old skill deficit that needed real attention and input.

When a child isn't functioning, it isn't because they don't want to- they want to do well!  And as their parents, teachers, and coaches, it's our job to help them identify what they need and to help them practice, generalize, and maintain the skills they are lacking.  This isn't just true for academic skills, but for independent functioning and social emotional skills as well.

What is 'unmotivated?'  What is "lazy?"  It could be a mismatch between the content and the kid's ability.  It could be a defense if they aren't great at reading in a group and don't want the others to know.  It could be that they look at a packet of work and feel so overwhelmed they aren't sure where to start.  It's important for us to ask them first- what can help you be successful at this?  When we can get input and (it can happen, I've seen it) accurate self-reflection from our kids, we can guide them through a problem solving process to improve their skills.  Skills first, then effort.

I couldn't be more thrilled about growth mindset becoming a buzzword- it's POWERFUL stuff.  It starts with us, and a shift in the way we view our ability and potential.  However, I think it's really important that when we are following the directive "praise the effort, not the child" we need to keep in mind- sometimes the child is at a loss for how to apply effort, and we need to give them the supports, strategies, or skills first. 

Here's a good article with author Dr. Carol Dweck with some food for thought- and I've listed her original book, Mindset, on the resources page as well.

Speaking of "what we see" I wish I could take credit for the gorgeous and brilliant infographic above, but I am not that talented.  It comes from an amazing website I've listed in the resources section on the site, NorthstarPaths.com.  It's loaded with free resources I love.

If you are still struggling with the "WHHHHYYYYY", reach out to me today, and we'll chat.  You get a chance to work on skills, too.  You've got this.

Ah, the "upstairs brain."  Not to be confused with our "baby brain."  In the awesome book, The Whole Brain Child, authors describe a way of thinking about our brain's frontal lobe, where our adulting skills lie.
This concept resonated well with my children, even at the tender ages of 4 and 6.  I'd tell them, "it seems your baby brain is in charge right now... could you go upstairs and do some grown up thinking?"

It was a start for us, but there's much more to it than that.  

A few years later, it became more and more clear that not everyone has exactly the same sort of capability in that upstairs brain.  Some of us are more prone to flipping our lid or losing our cool.  Some of us are chronically late.  I have spent a good deal of my grown up life walking around looking for my phone only to realize it was in my hand...

Executive functioning skills are all housed in that upstairs brain.  They are what we need to execute tasks, and to function independently in life.

An excellent read I've enjoyed as both a parent and educator is Smart But Scattered, The Revolutionary "Executive Skills" Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential.  In this book, geared toward parents, authors Peg Dawson and Richard Guare list eleven distinct executive skills:

• Response Inhibition
• Working Memory
• Emotional Control
• Sustained Attention
• Task Initiation
• Planning/Prioritization
• Organization
• Time Management
• Goal Directed Persistence
• Flexibility
• Metacognition

Understanding our strengths and weaknesses through the lens of executive functioning can help us build on good habits to overcome bad ones, and to reevaluate our tasks and environment so we can design a better fit and better outcome.

If you're interested in learning more about executive functioning and how it may be affecting you and your family, check out the resources page or contact me for a consultation.