Late, Lost, and Unprepared: A Parents' Guide to Helping Children with Executive Functioning

The groundbreaking, nationally recognized Next Chapter Book Club (NCBC) provides rewarding learning and social opportunities for hundreds of people with intellectual disabilities. This new guide shows you how to use the innovative NCBC model to set up a successful book club where members read aloud together, improve literacy or read for the first time, and make lasting friendships as they discuss books every week at their local coffee shop or bookstore. Developed in 2002 by Tom Fish and his colleagues at The Ohio State University Nisonger Center, the NCBC program now boasts more than 100 clubs. The authors share their experience, providing the practical, nuts and bolts steps you need to take to get a book club up and running. Clubs include five to eight members – all ages and literacy levels are welcome -- and discussion is facilitated by two trained volunteers. Much like other book clubs, NCBC members choose how they want to structure their club and which books they want to read. This book covers all aspects of sponsoring, organizing and implementing a book club in any community. Facilitators get title suggestions, learn how to manage their group, use strategies to initiate or improve reading skills, and encourage social interaction. NCBC also provides ongoing training and support to facilitators. A handy CR-rom included in the book provides several dozen key forms and templates, such as Member and Facilitator Intake Forms; End-of Book Survey, and Scale of Literary Skills. The enrichment of the NCBC experience continues to exceed the expectations of everyone involved; no club has every disbanded! In addition to improving their reading skills and making friends, participants become connected to their community because they go regularly to a social meeting place where all kinds of people gather. Don’t wait to set-up a book club in your neighborhood –The Next Chapter Book Club tells you how. It’s easy and fun. Teachers, parents, social service providers and prospective members will want a copy.

Joyce Cooper-Kahn, Ph.D., is a clinical child psychologist and co-founder of Psychological Resource Associates, a private mental health group in Severna Park, Maryland, where she specializes in helping children and families to successfully manage the variety of developmental challenges affecting children. Dr. Cooper-Kahn has particular expertise in learning and attention disorders. She holds a doctorate in clinical psychology from Catholic University and earned her undergraduate degree from Barnard College (summa cum laude). She is the parent of an adult son with AD/HD and executive skills weaknesses. Laurie C. Dietzel , Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in neuropsychological assessment and the diagnosis of ADHD, learning disabilities, PDD, and other neurodevelopment disorders. Dr. Dietzel earned her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland College Park and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychology at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. She is currently in private practice in Silver Spring, Maryland and provides national continuing education workshops. Both authors live in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC.

Dr. Fish is the founder of NCBC and the Director of Family and Employment Services at The Ohio State University Nisonger Center on Disabilities. Paula Rabidoux, Ph.D./ CCC is the Coordinator of Speech Language Pathology at the Nisonger Center and the Literacy Consultant for NCBC.