Boys Will Be Boys
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Jan 13, 2008 Posted by Ned Johnson
Another resolution for the New Year may be to get yourself, your house, or possibly your spouse organized. Additionally, with mid-year exams either fast approaching or safely behind, the opportunity to get your son or daughter on a new heading may be at hand. Many studies suggest that the need is greater for your son. As it turns out, many of the skills needed to be academically successful revolve not just around intelligence and content-knowledge but around organizational skills, ones that boys seem, on average, more apt to lack. See this New York Times piece on the matter. Skills and habits that seem self-evident to many girls and certainly to many parents are actually missing from the tool sets of boys. Many of these skills fall under the heading of executive functioning skills. Research suggests that students often grow out of their executive function deficiencies over time. However, to prevent underperformance until that time, intervention or instruction can be of great benefit. Happily, organizational techniques can be taught. Organized habits can be modeled. Coaches abound who can step in to teach students skills, especially useful if your teen hears all advice from you, no matter how sage, as criticism. Or, if you are looking for good advice to employ yourself, check out the recently published book “Thinking Organized for Parents and Children: Helping Kids Get Organized for Home, School and Play" by local executive functioning coach and founder of http://www.thinkingorganized.com/, Rhona M. Gordon. Full of practical suggestions, it may be just the ticket to a new year of better organization and better grades for your son by giving him skills he never knew existed.