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No Mind Left Behind – Adam Cox

BOOK REVIEWS

No Mind Left Behind – Adam Cox

Book review

A clinical perspective

In “No mind left Behind : Understanding and Fostering Executive Control”, using case studies and anecdotes, Clinical psychologist Dr. Cox presents a plan for parents to help children master the “eight essential cognitive skills” that are critical for “success in life and in work”, these are:
  • Taking initiative
  • Screening out distractions
  • Organizing
  • Thinking flexibly
  • Planning
  • Regulating emotions
  • Self-monitoring
  • Using memory effectively
The book addresses neuro-typical, as well as neuro-diverse children and includes practical suggestions for parents and educators. He devotes a chapter to each skill, explaining clearly what it is, how adults can recognize their child’s ability in each and helpful strategies for developing improvements. There is help and insight in this book for ADHD for sure but Cox fails to appreciate that these “skills” come at a price of lost creativity, humour, enterprise and adventure – his expectations for children seem extremely high.

With his exclusive “success focus” he misses out on the idea wellbeing, of childhood being more than training for work but about fun, self-discovery and play. I found that his talk of “skills” to be learnt (when chemical differences define behavioural choices) to be naive and a lack of focus on working with the person and their innate personality traits misses much of the point, that rather than denying the shortcoming and trying to fix it, it is often better to work around the issue than tackle it head on.
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ADHD Coach, Andrew Lewis

Andrew Lewis

Andrew Lewis is an ADHD Coach, writer and founder of SimplyWellbeing. He has over 16,000 hours and 20 years of experience in coaching over 600 ADHD executives, ADHD business professionals and ADHD creatives. Andrew ran a major ADHD support group and an ADHD diagnostic clinic for a while. He is an ADHD specialist backed with business expertise from a twenty years career in software, from roles in programming, through marketing, sales and to running a few software start-ups. 

Further reading

ADHD at work
Survival Tips for Women with ADHD – Terry Matlen
Helpful strategies for anyone with ADHD
in 
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The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook – Edmund J. Bourne
Anxiety usually accompanies our highly emotionally charged, roller-coaster ADHD lives, this book has some useful advice
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ADHD at work
A Bird’s-Eye View of Life with ADD – Chris & Alex Zeigler
Vey personal perspective from a mum and her ADHD son
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ADHD at work
Fidget to Focus – Rotz & Wright
Many teachers enforce a no fiddle or fidget rule, yet these activities actually improve focus
in 
ADHD at work
Late, Lost, and Unprepared – Cooper-Kahn & Dietze
A comprehensive look at childhood ADHD through the perspective of executive functions
in 
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