Randy Kulman - Train Your Brain for Success. A Teenagers Guide to Executive Functions

Copyright 2012 Randy Kulman, Ph.D.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book, except those portions specifically noted, may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means now known or to be invented, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations. Requests for permission or further information should be addressed to the publisher.

Cover Design: Michael Wall, Kall Graphics

Layout: Babs Kall, Kall Graphics

Illustrations by Peter J. Welleman

Specialty Press, Inc.

300 Northwest 70th Avenue, Suite 102

Plantation, Florida 33317

(954) 792-8100 (800) 233-9273

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-1-886941762

ISBN-10: 1-886941-76-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kulman, Randy, 1955

Train your brain for success : a teenagers guide to executive functions / by Randy Kulman.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-886941-76-2 (alk. paper)

1. Learning, Psychology of--Juvenile literature. 2. Human information processing-Juvenile literature. 3. Brain-Localization of functions-Juvenile literature. I. Title.

LB1060.K855 2011

370.1523-dc23

2011031730

Writing this book has been an opportunity to use what I have learned from the thousands of children and families with whom I have worked, as well as my own experience as a dad. Each of these individuals has helped to shape the issues and interests that are described in this book. I want to express my appreciation to my patients, students, family, and friends who have helped me in learning new things every day.

I would like to acknowledge the work of Peg Dawson and Richard Guare, who have translated theories of executive functioning into understandable skills that can be readily improved. I also thank my colleague and friend Gary Stoner for helping us to develop a research program that is leading to a better understanding of how to improve executive functions in children.

I am grateful to my staff at LearningWorks for Kids, James Daley, Philip Bishop, Patrick Elliot, Jennifer Slater, Pat Mullaney, and Stefanie Metko, for all of their ideas and help in editing this book. I also thank Deborah Swauger for her efforts at editing and keeping me on track and organized as I wrote this book.

Thanks are also owed to Harvey Parker at Specialty Press for believing in this project and being a great source of encouragement throughout the process. I appreciate the efforts of Peter Wellman at creating our illustrations and his willingness to make changes as necessary and of Babs Kall and Mike Wall from Kall Graphics for their creativity.

Most of all, I thank my family and friends for the support and knowledge that they have given me. My recently-deceased father Lawrence Kulman and my mother Clarissa Kulman provided assistance and were very practical when it came to making suggestions and have always set an example for me in caring about other people. I thank my dear friend Bill Sopp for his guidance and support in this book and my other ventures. I thank my partner Gail for her love, understanding and support in this and the dozens of other projects in which I find myself involved. I appreciate the opportunities that some really important kids in my life, Spencer, Maxwell, Madison, Gabriel, and Lauren, have given me in learning more about executive functioning in teenagers. Most of all, thank you to my children Scott, Seth, and Ethan, who are my greatest source of happiness and learning, for teaching me how to talk (or how not to talk) to teenagers. Hopefully I have learned a few things from you guys.

Sometimes its just hard to get your act together. You have too many things to do, not enough time to do them, and you dont always know exactly where to begin. It becomes even harder to get it together when you cant find what youre looking for, your little brother or sister is annoying you, or you know that youre not remembering something thats really important.

It was tough enough when your elementary school teacher gave you a lot of homework. But once you get to middle school and high school, youve got five, six, or sometimes even eight teachers all giving you different types of work that is due on different days. And all of them have different expectations about how you should do it. If youre like a lot of kids, youre probably busy after school, as well. Maybe youre on a sports team or in a club, have an after-school job, or need to go home to get your brother or sister off the school bus.

Managing all this stuff is not easy. Lots of capable, smart, and hard-working kids feel that theyre not doing everything as well as they should. Some of them are very forgetful and cant remember their homework. Others are so disorganized that they cant find it even when they do finish it all. Lots of kids have problems staying focused and paying attention, and others just arent able to sustain their energy and effort enough to complete their work from start to finish.

Guess what? If you feel like this, you are not alone. Like many kids with these difficulties, you might just need to know that there is a reason for these problems that have become a part of your daily life. There is a very good chance that you need some help improving your executive functions. This book explains what executive functions are and shows you some really easy ways to improve these skills.

What Are Executive Functions?

Executive functions are a set of thinking, problem-solving, and self-control skills. Scientists who study the brain believe that they are situated in the most modern part of our brain, the prefrontal cortex, and that they connect to many other areas of our brain, as well. Some people refer to executive functions as being like the conductor of an orchestra. Just as an orchestra conductor decides what music to play and then directs, coordinates, and organizes the musicians to play it well, executive functions tell our brains what to do.

Executive functions help us to decide what to pay attention to in our lives. They may help us in planning and organizing our thoughts and activities and are useful in helping us to know how to get started on something and then how to manage our time. They also help us to control our behaviors and emotions and stop us from doing something thoughtless or something that might hurt ourselves.

As you can imagine, executive functions are very important to your success at school. They help you to pay attention in class and to understand and balance the material you are learning. They also help you to choose your behavior for different settings and to know how your actions will affect other people.

Some kids have more difficulties with their executive functions than others. These kids often report getting easily distracted at school, having problems starting and finishing their homework, and having difficulty remembering directions or what they have read. Fortunately, scientists who study the brain have begun to prove that learning new skills actually changes our brains, so that by practicing brain-based skills such as executive functions we can actually change the way our brains look and operate.

How to Use This Book

This book is organized around eight different sets of skills that capture the ways that kids use executive functions in school, at home, and in their other activities. At the end of each chapter are some very practical ideas for how you can improve your skills. The next-to-last chapter tells you about some really cool ways that you can use digital technologies such as cell phones, iPods, and the Internet to improve your self-management skills.