Books on improving executive function?

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Jayo
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08 Oct 2013, 7:11 pm

Does anyone know of any books on improving executive function?? I definitely have executive dysfunction; while it has improved over the years, on the average, I have tended to regress and wane every so often - usually under factors of stress (that's when I have to deal with the deluge of details that inundate the Asperger brain, and my filters don't kick in as well as non-stressed times).

I found that working out in the morning before the work day improves things quite a bit - I feel more clear-headed and can make better decisions. That was something I learned through a book on physical conditioning, that if timed right, it can improve your decision-making ability - guess that works for some of us with Aspergers as well as NTs. :)

Trouble is, I have a feeling that books can only help you so much, because a good chunk of the nature of executive functioning is spontaneous processing - we simply don't have the "top-down thinking" at our disposal to intuitively grasp the big picture, and WHY something should be a certain way, without being explicitly told why - and with an infinite number of such situations, even reading several books might only be a marginal improvement. In such situations, we are expected to arrive at a coherent decision in fairly short order, and if we ask "umm...can I just have a bit more time..." it could make us look just as foolish as if we'd made the wrong decision. (depending.)

One strategy I thought of, but have to admit I've never tried (got to find the time!!) is to write down all those situations where I "missed the bigger picture" and didn't prioritize or act on relevant details in a given situation, then find recurring trends, embed them in my mind (minus some painful or awkward memories!!) and use that to fall back on when dealing with new situations - combined with reading a couple of books on the subject.

I realize that many of the books on the market for AS are more heavily "biased" towards social deficits, and towards children, because traditionally speaking, that's how the mainstream views AS. But having improved executive function is essential to survival and a fulfilling life IMO.



Codyrules37
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08 Oct 2013, 7:56 pm

how to pay attention 4 dummies is a pretty good book



questor
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08 Oct 2013, 8:06 pm

Yes, I have EFD as one of my co-morbids with my Asperger's, and it really makes a mess of my life. :roll: I don't know of any books about it, but that is a good question to ask. Maybe we can find something online through one of the search engines. :idea:



neobluex
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08 Oct 2013, 9:27 pm

I don't know books about that.
You can play flexibility minigames and try to manage your emotions. I think there are games about planning, too.



Janissy
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09 Oct 2013, 7:27 am

Jayo wrote:
One strategy I thought of, but have to admit I've never tried (got to find the time!!) is to write down all those situations where I "missed the bigger picture" and didn't prioritize or act on relevant details in a given situation, then find recurring trends, embed them in my mind (minus some painful or awkward memories!!) and use that to fall back on when dealing with new situations - combined with reading a couple of books on the subject.



That could help. It's a strategy I landed on entirely by accident as a young teen. Like many teenage girls at the time (that time being long before the invention of the internet and thus facebook) I kept a diary. Many entries were mopey ones about how this or that situation had gone catastrophically wrong. Re-reading the diary as a somewhat older teen I noticed a recurring pattern that I hadn't noticed while writing: Many of these situations that went so wrong were preceded by me getting all my information from just one source, such as a single gossiping girl (I was a teen, remember) and then rashly acting on it without checking other sources for other points of view and missing information. That was something I could consciously fix.

That may not be an executive function problem (couldn't tell from what I googled) so the specific problem isn't relevent to you. But the general strategy of writing down bad situations I was in and looking for a common thread I could change certainly is. It's really worth a shot.



Callista
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09 Oct 2013, 9:24 am

Executive dysfunction is a big problem for ADHD. Try reading some books with ideas about how to cope with ADHD, especially in adults.


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