Traditional Workshop 13 - Treatments to Improve Home and School Functioning in ADHD and Related Disorders Through Practical Executive Function Treatment: Organizational Skills Training in Clinic and School Delivery

Many youth with ADHD and related problems have impairing deficits in executive functioning (EF) and reflections of EF deficits in poor organization, time management, planning (OTMP) skills. OTMP deficits reduce school performance, create homework problems, cause family conflict, hinder children’s emotional adjustment, and contribute to problems in life success. Parents and teachers see these practical executive function deficits as a critical concern.

From 2 decades of development, pilot testing, and randomized controlled trials, Organizational Skills Training (OST) has been found to significantly change the behavioral, academic, family, and emotional lives of children that struggle with deficits in practical executive functions. The method is efficacious with children that meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD and for children with OTMP skills deficits that do not necessarily have ADHD.
OST is a well-established treatment for children with ADHD (Evans et al., 2014). It has impact in improving OTMP skills which contributes to improved achievement and to reduced homework problems and family conflict (Abikoff et al., 2012). OST has been fully tested for elementary school children in clinical settings and in school settings delivered by school personnel. The main components of the manualized treatment, both what is done in session and how it is done effectively, will be reviewed through lectures, examples, brief videos and short, interactive exercises. The presentation will review the full protocols with emphasis on child, parent, and teacher orientation and skills building in five areas: supportive parent behavior management and teacher involvement, tracking assignments, managing materials, time management, and planning.

The foundations for both the clinical and school-delivered versions of OST will be presented. The options for delivery of the clinical version for in-person contact and telehealth participation will be discussed. The session will also present the modification for efficacious implementation in small groups by school personnel. The workshop is presented by co-developers of the protocols who have extensive experience in training therapists and school personnel in providing the program with fidelity.

Recommended Reading 1: Christina A. Di Bartolo, Howard Abikoff, | Margaret McDonald, & Richard Gallagher (2021). Adapting an empirical clinic‐based organizational
skills training program for use in schools: Iterative development and pilot assessment. Psychology in the Schools, 58, 1225-1245.

Recommended Reading 2: Jenelle Nissley-Tsiopinis, Thomas J. Power, Phylicia F. Fleming, Katie L. Tremont,
Bridget Poznanski, Shannon Ryan1, Jaclyn Cacia, Theresa Egan, Cristin Montalbano, Alex Holdaway,
Ami Patel, Richard Gallagher, Howard Abikoff, A. Russell Localio, and Jennifer A. Mautone (2024) School-Based Organizational Skills Training for
Students in Grades 3–5: A Cluster Randomized Trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 92, 674-691. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000909

Recommended Reading 3: Steven W. Evans, Julie Sarno Owens, Brian T. Wymbs & A. Raisa Ray (2018)
Evidence-Based Psychosocial Treatments for Children and Adolescents With Attention Deficit/
Hyperactivity Disorder, Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 47:2, 157-198, DOI:
10.1080/15374416.2017.1390757

Recommended Reading 4: Steven W. Evans , Theodore P. Beauchaine , Andrea Chronis-Tuscano , Stephen P. Becker , Anil Chacko , Richard Gallagher , Cynthia M. Hartung , Michael J. Kofler , Brandon K. Schultz , Leanne Tamm & Eric A. Youngstrom (2021): The Efficacy of Cognitive Videogame Training for ADHD and What FDA Clearance Means for Clinicians, Evidence-Based
Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Outline:
Introduction

• The reason for addressing organizational skills as a means of changing executive functioning
• The characteristics of children with deficient organizational skills and the negative impact of these deficiencies
• A brief review of empirical support for clinical and school delivery
Identifying Appropriate Cases Through Assessment

• Use of rating scales
• Interviews with parents, teachers, and children
The Main Treatment Components of OST

• Skills training in 4 areas
• Parent and teacher prompting and Incentive use to build and maintain skills
• Changing the cognitive set
Implementation with Described and Brief Video Examples

• In-person for the Clinical Setting
• Telehealth for the Clinical Setting
• In-person Groups for the School Setting
Questions and Answers on Implementation