Children and teenagers with “executive functioning disorders” are often diagnosed with ADHD (or ADD), specific learning disabilities such as dyslexia, and/or high-functioning autism (ASD). While every individual is unique, youth with these issues after often very smart, kind, empathetic, creative, and inventive thinkers about topics of strong interest to them. At the same time, they can be disorganized, forgetful, frequent procrastinators, and poor problem solvers. Parenting such children can be deeply rewarding AND challenging! These challenges have grown since the COVID pandemic changed our school and work lives. Parenting *and* supervising kids with e-learning raises so many questions. When to get involved? How to help? How to manage your own responsibilities and stress while making sure your son or daughter is making progress in school?
Two resources of note may help parents and other caregivers. The first is an ongoing blog for parents from The Edge Foundation. This organization provides coaching to students with ADD/ADHD. Many of their blog entries, though, apply to parenting kids and teenagers with other diagnoses, too:
https://edgefoundation.org/category/for-parents/
The second resource is a one-time workshop taking place on Tuesday, October 13th (6 pm – 8 pm ET). Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA) is a national leader in educating parents and teachers about helping students with learning disabilities. LDA is conducting an online workshop to equip these caregivers with practical tools for helping students with math. Many students with executive functioning issues struggle in this subject even though they are smart enough to “get” the concepts. The repetitive nature of math, the need for sustained attention to numerical details, and the challenge of following lock-step sequences can challenge impulsive and inattentive students. To learn more (or to register for) about Drive Math Reasoning From Whole to Part, visit this link.
