Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Teaching Life Skills to Children and Teens with ADHD


Teaching Life Skills to Children and Teens With ADHD (2016) describes the Life Skills Program created by author Vincent J. Monastra at his ADHD clinic. It features practical strategies for helping children and teens develop essential life skills at home, school, or in a support group setting.
Some of these skills include:
Engaging others in conversations
Seeking out confidence-building experiences
Responding appropriately to teasing
Establishing friendships and social networks
Trying group activities to avoid isolation
Developing healthy eating, sleeping and exercise habits
Solving problems and getting organized
Showing sensitivity to others' emotions
Each chapter includes exercises to help  teach, model, and guide children in trying out these skills. Interactive checklists, quizzes, and guided journal entries are provided as tools for reflection and for engaging children and teens in ways that are interesting and fun. I particularly like the Life Lesson "Kindness is Contagious" which fits in perfectly with my theme for February. This guide gives a counselor good activities to use in small groups. There are 12 life lessons that could easily be the format for a small tier 2 group. I have used many of the activities with individuals. The guide is a resource I recommend to most of the parents of my upper grade students who are identified as ADHD.

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