ABSTRACT
Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD) often experience difficulties learning and applying effective organization, time management, and planning (OTMP) skills. Challenges with OTMP skills tend to develop following the transition to middle school when academic and extracurricular demands increase, and students are expected to operate with more autonomy. Problems with OTMP skills are associated with significant academic impairment, such as incomplete and missing homework assignments and low and failing test grades. OTMP skills deficits are particularly common and impairing in certain subgroups of students, such as students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The Homework, Organization, and Planning Skills (HOPS) intervention is a relatively brief intervention that targets OTMP difficulties. This chapter reviews the evidence for OTMP deficits in students with ADHD, discusses the development of the HOPS intervention, and provides suggestions for how the HOPS intervention can be implemented as a Tier 1, 2, or 3 intervention for students with and without ADHD. Empirical studies evaluating the efficacy of the HOPS intervention are also reviewed. Overall, these studies suggest that the HOPS intervention significantly improves parent- and teacher-reported organization and homework management skills and that gains are maintained across time. Additionally, results suggest that response trajectories are favorable for the majority of participants (68–81% depending on outcome).
