Notes
This book gives general information about an everyday habit. It isn't medical, psychological or educational advice, and it's no substitute for a teacher, a special needs coordinator, a health visitor or a GP who knows your child. The NHS guidance I mention is for England as I found it in September 2026. The book takes no position on any diagnosis.
I've kept sources out of the chapters where I could so they read easily. Here they are by chapter, with the limits I'm aware of. Unless I say otherwise, I read the published summary of each paper and not the full text. I checked each paper for a retraction or correction notice in September 2026 and found none. Where a chapter isn't listed, it rests on my own reasoning. That includes chapters 1, 2, 7, 14, 16, 18, 20, 23 and 24. Sam, the kit, the coat, the reading book and the tablet are invented. The three columns, the three weeks and the arrangement are my suggestions and haven't been tested as a method.
Before you start. The NHS pages on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, as fetched for earlier books in this series. The earlier book on shouting is Not in front of the children.
Chapter 3. Gathercole, Pickering, Ambridge and Wearing, "The structure of working memory from 4 to 15 years of age", Developmental Psychology 40, 2004, pages 177 to 190. The summary gives the shape of the growth and not spans at particular ages, so the chapter says "fewer" and no more. The shelf and the Thursday morning are mine.
Chapter 4. Munakata, Snyder and Chatham, "Developing cognitive control: three key transitions", Current Directions in Psychological Science 21, 2012, pages 71 to 77. A review of laboratory research, and the chapter says the application to a Thursday is mine.
Chapter 5. Diamond, "Executive functions", Annual Review of Psychology 64, 2013, pages 135 to 168. A review. The account of what coming off a tablet requires is mine, using her three core functions.
Chapter 6. Droit-Volet, "Time perception in children: a neurodevelopmental approach", Neuropsychologia 51, 2013, pages 220 to 234. A review. No ages are given in the chapter because the summary doesn't give thresholds. What "five minutes" means to a child is my observation.
Chapter 8. Best and Miller, "A developmental perspective on executive function", Child Development 81, 2010, pages 1641 to 1660. A review. The claim about what does the growing is my reading.
Chapter 9. Munakata and colleagues as above. The description of a classroom as a set of cues is mine.
Chapter 10. The NHS page "Dealing with child behaviour problems", for tired, hungry, overexcited, frustrated and bored. Diamond as above, for what impairs the executive functions. The rest is mine.
Chapter 11. Steinberg, "A social neuroscience perspective on adolescent risk-taking", Developmental Review 28, 2008, pages 78 to 106. A review, about adolescents rather than nine-year-olds, and the chapter says so. The account of a nine-year-old's no is my observation.
Chapter 12. Diamond as above, for the controversy over executive functions and fluid intelligence. The pattern of the bright child who forgets is my observation.
Chapter 13. The NHS page as above, for consistency and why it matters. The distinction between a consistent standard and a consistent response is mine.
Chapter 15. Munakata and colleagues, and Best and Miller, as above. The account of how helpless adults are produced is my observation.
Chapter 17. Diamond as above, for stress impairing the functions. The rest is mine.
Chapter 19. Gathercole and colleagues, Munakata and colleagues, and Droit-Volet as above. The NHS page as above, for not overreacting and for being specific about the good things. The earlier book on asking once is Not in front of the children. The earlier book on noticing what's fine is Thank them now.
Chapter 21. Gollwitzer and Sheeran, "Implementation intentions and goal achievement: a meta-analysis of effects and processes", Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 38, 2006, pages 69 to 119. The rule hasn't been tested as a package, and what I say to expect is my expectation and not a finding.
Chapter 22. Steinberg as above. Diamond as above. The NHS pages as above. The earlier book on shouting as above.