Chapter 1: Understanding Smart but Scattered
The first chapter of Smart but Scattered dives deeper into executive functioning and specifically how it is seen in children. Executive functioning consists of cognitive, emotional, and organizational skills, such as organization, time management, problem solving, and planning, among other important skills. However, due to neurological reasons, children sometimes struggle with these skills and become easily overwhelmed. This chapter includes a description of the four main types of issues experienced by children with poor executive functioning skills: scatteredness, disorganization and messiness, difficulty getting started, and inefficient mental effort.
For example, a child with poor executive functioning skills may be seen as scattered. This means the child has difficulty focusing their attention on a task and instead often gets distracted, making it difficult for them to make progress with any task. Furthermore, they may also struggle with disorganization and messiness, oftentimes unable to keep their work environment tidy and organized. With difficulty getting started, it takes the child much longer than their peers to begin a task and they struggle to gather resources or keep track of what needs to be done. Finally, the child may expend an excessive amount of mental effort when trying to complete a task. This means that task completion is difficult and requires an extraordinary amount of energy, resulting in the child feeling easily overwhelmed and exhausted.
Chapter 2: What's Going On for Your Child
The second chapter of Smart but Scattered discusses the different aspects of your child's behavior and how it contributes to their executive functioning skills. This chapter goes into detail on the different areas that may affect your child's executive functioning, such as cognitive impairments, environmental challenges, mental health issues, and physical health concerns. Each of these areas can affect your child's ability to properly process and understand information, which often results in the associated behaviors of poor executive functioning.
For example, cognitive impairments can cause a child to struggle with abstract thinking and have difficulty reasoning and understanding complex tasks. As a result, they may have difficulty with organizational tasks, such as developing a plan, organizing materials, and prioritizing tasks. Environmental challenges in the home can also impact their executive functioning, particularly if there is overcrowding, noise, or lack of support. This can make it difficult for the child to focus their attention on the task at hand, and they may struggle with disorganization and messiness. Finally, mental health issues may cause the child to have difficulty managing their emotions and feelings, and physical health concerns may interfere with their concentration and cognitive abilities, making it difficult for them to stay focused.
