Customer Reviews

No Mind Left Behind: Understanding and Fostering Executive Control--The Eight Essential Brain SkillsEvery Child Needs to Thrive

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I was a big fan of Cox's other book, Boys of Few Words. Despite the technical subtitle, I picked this up and was so happy I did. Cox's strategies for helping kids is right on target, and should be required reading for every teacher and classroom volunteer (like me) on the planet.

Drawing on recent brain research, Cox makes a powerful argument that much of what we label "ADHD" (and other behavior or learning problems) stems from under-developed "executive control" skills. These are skills that develop at different rates in different children, sometimes up to the early twenties. The bottom line is that we may be unnecessarily medicating and reprimanding children who just need some extra time and attention to catch up. According to Cox, more holistic interventions can "rewire" a growing brain and help all kids, no matter where they start, be more successful.

Cox is a child advocate who shows that what might look like "character faults" (bad attitudes, disorganization, laziness, etc.) are often (although not always) simply brain processing problems. He clarifies "which is which" with sound reasoning. His suggestions are research-based and practical, and his cheerful and witty prose (including some hilarious vignettes that every parent will identify with) make this a fast and fun read. Highly recommended.

I give thanks daily for Dr. Cox. I am a single working mother with a troubled son. We live in rural south New Jersey and it was very dificult emotionally and travel wise to take my son to doctor after doctor only to get the same old wrong answers about ADHD and pills that did not help him. I was so desperate so I began to search for myself and found Dr. Cox's book No Mind Left Behind. He expalined about some boys needing a slower timeline and lots of verbal support to make things better and suddenly I got up, threw away all the pills and wrong information, and was able to get my child the help he really needed. It was like a searchlight had suddenly turned on in the dark. If you have ever listened to a record played at the wrong speed and then listened to it at the right speed you will know that my son is now doing so well compared to before. I spoke with his teachers and showed them the book and you know what? They listened. My son no longer hates school and the kids in his class have even stopped picking on him because now he has more confidence and has goals that he can attain and build on thanks to Dr. Cox. Other experts make you doubt your child and yourself and I urge you if what you are doing is not working to get off the fence and get this book and really take a hard look at what YOU as a parent know about your child. Dr. Cox's book will tell you how and truly no mind will be left behind. Bless you!!!

I see my own children and countless others in the pages of this book. It provides all parents and teachers with a much better way to evaluate how our kids learn and what we can specifically do to help them improve their learning power, especially in this visual, fast-paced, techno-saavy age. The clear explanation of "executive skills" provides us a better lens through which to see and understand our children's abilities. Finally, a smart and caring soul who understands neuroscience research gives us new, clear measuring tools (rather than flawed standardized tests!). We all want our kids to reach their full potential for living happy, satisfying lives, and that means nourishing their brains in ways that lead to self-aware, flexible, motivated individuals. This book should be required reading for all teachers and parents! A great read.

This book is a good book for educational diagnosticians and school psychologists. It has not only what executive control is but case studies which are valuable in understanding executive control.

As a preschool teacher I found this book to be very illuminating. I've studied quite a bit about executive functioning, but found the authors perspective on the topic to be unique and applicable. I'm usually not a fan of any sort of parenting book as I feel they water down the psychology that their advice is based on for the masses to such an extent it makes it hard to apply in individual situations. This book struck a nice balance in that area. Offering a lot of background on the issue in question, some examples so you know what it looks like, and then strategies for how to improve, and not just cope with the problem. What made this book unique is how the author broke down the 8 pillars of executive control. Instead of just looking at executive function as the ability to plan and pay attention breaking the functions down as he did made it easy to see in a classroom who struggles in certain areas, and I can tell you after reading this book and being able to narrow down on the certain "pillar" related deficits in each child in my room there was an overall improvement in self control and confidence in each child I worked with. I didn't follow all of his advice in the chapters, but with his 8 pillars of "Factor Ex" in mind was able to focus better on the exact needs of each child.

The author also does a great job showing how each pillar effects the overall function of the prefrontal cortex, where executive control is housed in the brain. I especially liked how he related things like inattention, impulsiveness, and organization to emotions and confidence. These two traits are often over important in today's culture, and we focus on these two things to such an extent that we're neglecting the real underlying issues. This book points out how executive functioning is related and crucial for healthy confidence and emotional control to develop. At times it seems obvious in the book how all 8 of his points tie together, but it's the way it's broken down in the book it makes a lot more sense.

I have to admit when I first read the term "Factor Ex" I rolled my eyes and almost put this book away and dismissed it as another author trying to 'sell' their technique, but in this case...pop psychology or not...I believe the authors theory is based on very solid ground. My one complaint with the book is that I wish he had incorporated more detailed neuroscience. I realize that would be a turn off to some, but the ideas presented in this book are great and I think they could have only been improved by chapters, or perhaps a supplemental book that discussed the neuroscience behind the ideas in greater detail.

Overall I would highly recommend this book to every teacher as it helps you see children who struggle in a different light, and makes it easy to calmly address problems that otherwise will drive you crazy. I would also recommend this to any parent struggling with their child as most problems parents faced are addressed in this book, and the issue of executive control is going to become increasingly important as our culture continues to progress the way it is, and if we as adults do not nurture this aspect of our child's development they're going to continue to struggle and we're going to find ourselves immersed in a "mental health" crisis culture full of unnecessary and wrongly diagnosed ADHD, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, Conduct disorder, personality disorder cases that could have easily been avoided and cared for by simple interactions during childhood.

No Mind Left Behind: Understanding and Fostering Executive Control--The Eight Essential Brain Skills:Every Child Needs to Thrive (Purchased on 05/20/2009) by Adam J. Cox . Great resourcea for those wanting to learn more about executie funcion of the brain and what to do to help your child despite this.

..."pop" psychology book..this one claims it can assist in transforming your child into a success...the author claims that his advice will help you control something he terms "factor ex"..."factor ex" refers to "executive control" -- something the author claims resides in the frontal cortex and which is responsible for "efficient productive thinking"...follow his advice and your child's "executive control" will be enhanced and lead to all sorts of good things...this is just pseudoscientific nonsense...even if "executive control" as the author conceives it exists as a cerebral function there is no reason to believe it can be "improved" through any kind of behavioral modification...moreover, there is no reason to believe that a particular method or approach would work any better than any other...and even if it could be improved there is no reason to believe that any improvement might ultimately correlate with success in any endeavor...in short, there is zero scientific evidence to support the merits of any of the author's advice...if ignoring the claims, the author does present many good ideas...however, they are all pretty much "common sense" ideas that most people would arrive at independently when confronted with the circumstances...example: "use visual aids to enhance explanation of more abstract ideas"...true -- but that and probably numerous other useful ideas would probably occur to an individual confronting that situation......similarly, "visualize outcomes" is always good advice but it's the sort of thing that probably would occur to most people...and like most books written by psychologists most pages offer assorted anecdotal evidence -- also called "hearsay" evidence, none of which has any real scientific merit...and some of the advice is questionable...he recommends moving an inattentive child to the front of the class to improve their attention...aside from a total lack of evidence for the worthiness of this idea, might such a move have negative consequences...might singling out the child make them the object of ridicule by their classmates or otherwise make the child feel somehow inferior...and might the child that is forced back suffer ill consequences?...and I hate to think of teachers being harassed by well meaning parents to move Johnny or Janie to the front to gain some advantage because of unsupported advice from a book...I have to advise skipping it.