Book Review - Late, Lost, and Unprepared: A Parents' Guide to Helping Children with Executive Functioning

I was happy to receive a copy of a new book by authors Dr. Joyce Cooper-Kahn and Dr. Laurie Dietzel entitled: Late, Lost, and Unprepared: A Parents' Guide to Helping Children with Executive Functioning

When I first heard about this book and what it covered, I thought to myself, I wonder whether out eldest has some issues with this. The more that I read, I feel that this might not be what Diva-J deals with, but I have to say that I have come into contact with many children who do have issues with Executive Functioning.

In the book the authors cover many topics that provide tips that can help parents whose child:

·         Neglects to turn in completed assignments.

• Arrives at an event completely unprepared.
• Underestimates the effort involved in a project.
• Is overwhelmed at juggling multiple classes and projects.
• Has trouble identifying the most important information.
• Has trouble organizing space.

Does this sound like your child, if so, I would definitely recommend you looking into this book. It is written by two clinical psychologists who have been working with children who struggle with the issues I mentioned above as well as some of the issues below as well:

• Impulse Control (taking turns, interrupting others, running off)
• Cognitive Flexibility (adapting to new situations, transitions, handling frustrations)
• Initiation (starting homework, chores, and major projects)
• Working Memory (following directions, note-taking, reading and retaining info)
• Planning & Organizing (completing and turning in homework, juggling schedules)
• Self-monitoring (making careless errors, staying on topic, getting into trouble but not understanding why)

I know that for me, I have seen kids with these issues (and think I know some adults who probably had issues with these issues) whose parents could have saved themselves hours, weeks, years of stress by better understanding the underlying issues that their child was struggling with. This book goes over these issues in a two part process. The first part goes into depth about the basics of what you need to know about the concepts of Executive Functioning. The second part goes into what you can do about the issues that you learned about in part one. Do not skip the first part just to get to the second, you will miss out!



The book itself is short and easy to read. The chapter lengths are manageable and even if you are not a huge reader (as I am) you will be able to get through this book in no time.

You can find this book on Amazon or other top booksellers. In looking at Amazon today, it currently sells for $13.57. In my opinion it is definitely a good buy if it can help your child move in the direction of better organization and executive functioning!


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