Table of Contents

Authors' Note
Introduction
I. What Makes Your Teen Smart but Scattered
1. Executive Skills and the Teen Brain
2. Identifying Your Teen's Executive Skills Strengths and Weaknesses
3. Assessing Your Own Executive Skills and Parenting Style
II. Laying a Foundation That Can Help
4. Ten Principles for Improving Your Teen's Executive Skills
5. Motivating Your Teen to Use Executive Skills
6. Modifying the Environment
7. Teaching Executive Skills
III. Putting It All Together
8. Advance Organizer
9. Enhancing Response Inhibition
10. Strengthening Working Memory
11. Increasing Emotional Control
12. Boosting Flexibility
13. Building Sustained Attention
14. Teaching Task Initiation
15. Promoting Planning and Prioritizing
16. Fostering Organization
17. Improving Time Management
18. Encouraging Goal-Directed Persistence
19. Cultivating Metacognition
20. Coaching
21. Transitions
Resources

About the Author

Richard Guare, PhD, BCBA-D, is a neuropsychologist and board-certified behavior analyst who frequently consults to schools and agencies on attention and executive skills difficulties. He is former Director of the Center for Learning and Attention Disorders at Seacoast Mental Health Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Dr. Guare is coauthor of bestselling books for general readers, including Smart but Scattered, Smart but Scattered Teens, Smart but Scattered--and Stalled (with a focus on emerging adults), and The Smart but Scattered Guide to Success (with a focus on adults). He is also coauthor ofThe Work-Smart Academic Planner, Revised Edition, and books for professionals including Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents, Third Edition.

Peg Dawson, EdD, is a psychologist who provides professional development training on executive skills for schools and organizations nationally and internationally. She was previously on the staff of the Center for Learning and Attention Disorders at Seacoast Mental Health Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Dr. Dawson is a past president of the New Hampshire Association of School Psychologists, the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), and the International School Psychology Association, and a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from NASP. She is coauthor of bestselling books for general readers, including Smart but Scattered, Smart but Scattered Teens, Smart but Scattered--and Stalled (with a focus on emerging adults), and The Smart but Scattered Guide to Success (with a focus on adults). Dr. Dawson is also coauthor of The Work-Smart Academic Planner, Revised Edition, and books for professionals including Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents, Third Edition.

Colin Guare, BCBA, LBA, is a Rhode Island-based behavior analyst and executive skills coach. He has worked with children, adolescents, and young adults since 2008 in clinical, home, and school settings, and consults for organizations and state agencies on employment coaching programs.

Reviews

An absolute 'must read' for parents. Many detailed examples show you exactly how to teach your teenager the skills needed for success in school and beyond. The clever strategies for getting around teens' creative resistance to making changes are particularly helpful. I will recommend this gem of a book to all of the parents and adolescents I treat.--Arthur L. Robin, PhD, coauthor of Your Defiant TeenExecutive skills are critical to success in life, but may be delayed in some teens and young adults--and parents are often at a loss for how to help. Smart but Scattered Teens is just what parents need. This is a highly useful guide for improving teens' executive skills and motivating them to use the skills they already have.--Patricia O. Quinn, MD, coauthor of Ready for Take-Off: Preparing Your Teen with ADHD or LD for College
Does your teen's behavior have you tearing out your hair in frustration? Quit nagging and use this wonderfully insightful and practical book to coach your 'smart but scattered' teen for personal, educational, and social success.--William Pfohl, PsyD, past president, International School Psychology Association

I was hooked from the first chapter! This book has opened my eyes to ways to foster my son's strengths, not just criticize his weaknesses. With all the issues we battle daily, it's easy to forget the power of the positive. I'm thrilled to have a specific plan of action for targeting the skills my son needs to do better in school and become more focused and responsible.--Kim L.-The book's 'executive skills' are the critical tools needed to solve problems, manage time, and perform tasks. As many parents know, tweens and teens often lack these abilities....A very helpful addition to parenting shelves.--Library Journal, 2/14/2013ƒƒAn easy-to-read, well-documented, and well-resourced book that, if utilized, would surely better both the relationship between any teen and their parents and also assist the teen in developing better executive function skills….It is a book that can be recommended to parents by professionals working with teenagers….Guilford is to be commended for offering this book at such reasonable pricing. Hopefully it will increase the utility and desire on many parents' parts to purchase this book so that it can help their families and their teenagers.--Child and Family Behavior Therapy, 1/3/2013

An absolute 'must read' for parents. Many detailed examples show you exactly how to teach your teenager the skills needed for success in school and beyond. The clever strategies for getting around teens' creative resistance to making changes are particularly helpful. I will recommend this gem of a book to all of the parents and adolescents I treat.--Arthur L. Robin, PhD, coauthor of Your Defiant TeenExecutive skills are critical to success in life, but may be delayed in some teens and young adults--and parents are often at a loss for how to help. Smart but Scattered Teens is just what parents need. This is a highly useful guide for improving teens' executive skills and motivating them to use the skills they already have.--Patricia O. Quinn, MD, coauthor of Ready for Take-Off: Preparing Your Teen with ADHD or LD for College
Does your teen's behavior have you tearing out your hair in frustration? Quit nagging and use this wonderfully insightful and practical book to coach your 'smart but scattered' teen for personal, educational, and social success.--William Pfohl, PsyD, past president, International School Psychology Association

I was hooked from the first chapter! This book has opened my eyes to ways to foster my son's strengths, not just criticize his weaknesses. With all the issues we battle daily, it's easy to forget the power of the positive. I'm thrilled to have a specific plan of action for targeting the skills my son needs to do better in school and become more focused and responsible.--Kim L.-The book's 'executive skills' are the critical tools needed to solve problems, manage time, and perform tasks. As many parents know, tweens and teens often lack these abilities....A very helpful addition to parenting shelves.--Library Journal, 2/14/2013ƒƒAn easy-to-read, well-documented, and well-resourced book that, if utilized, would surely better both the relationship between any teen and their parents and also assist the teen in developing better executive function skills….It is a book that can be recommended to parents by professionals working with teenagers….Guilford is to be commended for offering this book at such reasonable pricing. Hopefully it will increase the utility and desire on many parents' parts to purchase this book so that it can help their families and their teenagers.--Child and Family Behavior Therapy, 1/3/2013

More psychologists, parents, and developmental counselors are examining the why when it comes to understanding the strange and puzzling behaviors of tweens and teens. Here, best-selling authors Richard Guare and Peg Dawson (Smart but Scattered), along with Colin Guare, look at brain development research to help readers understand (and suffering teens overcome) the vexing impulses and time-management issues that plague many adolescents. The book's "executive skills" are the critical tools needed to solve problems, manage time, and perform tasks. As many parents know, tweens and teens often lack these abilities, which, according to the authors, stem from the brain's frontal lobe, where its functions are not fully developed in teenagers. If parents can better comprehend brain development, they can help even the most disorganized, reckless teens exhibit more sensible and responsible behavior. The book includes lots of anecdotes and commentary; readers can skip around to relevant chapters or read straight through. Verdict A very helpful addition to parenting shelves, comparable to David Walsh's Smart Parenting, Smarter Kids.-Linda Beck, Indian Valley P.L., Telford, PA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.