Where can I purchase the HOPS Intervention manual?

  • The HOPS intervention treatment manual can be purchased from the National Association for School Psychologists (NASP) website in either print or digital versions here.
  • The HOPS intervention parent guide can be purchased here.

Where can I purchase the HOPS Intervention checklists?

  • By purchasing the HOPS intervention treatment manual, you will also receive access to all checklists in digital, editable format.
  • The only way to access the digital checklists is to purchase the treatment manual. By purchasing the parent guide only, you will not receive access to the checklists.
  • If you previously purchased the 1st edition treatment manual, you will need to purchase the 2nd edition treatment manual in order to access the digital checklists.

How much do the HOPS Intervention manuals cost?

  • Treatment manual is $56.00 for Members of NASP and $70.00 for Non-Members of NASP.
  • Parent guide is $20.00 for Members of NASP and $70.00 for Non-Members of NASP.

What types of students can benefit from the HOPS intervention?

  • HOPS was developed for middle school students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) because they often experience difficulties with organization and time-management. However, many students have difficulties with organization and time-management and most students can benefit from learning how to manage their materials and time efficiently. HOPS can be implemented with elementary students, once they are expected to self-manage their materials; typically around 3rd or 4th grade. HOPS can also be implemented with middle and high school students. Oftentimes, schools consider the HOPS intervention when students are having difficulties with homework management and completion and/or are procrastinating and not preparing adequately for tests.

What will HOPS improve?

  • As the name implies, HOPS targets organization, time-management, and planning skills, primarily surrounding homework completion and studying for tests. Studies of the HOPS show that students make improvements on all of the outcomes directly targeted by the intervention. It is important to remember that students can struggle academically and have missing assignments and low or failing grades for many reasons other than organization and time-management skills (e.g., below grade level reading or math or anxiety). Accordingly, a student might significantly improve organization and planning skills with the HOPS intervention but continue to have academic difficulties. We would not expect students to improve in aspects of functioning not specifically targeted with intervention. If after implementing HOPS organization and time-management skills improve but academic impairment remains, further assessment may be warranted.

Who can implement HOPS?

  • School counselors and school psychologists have implemented HOPS in the majority of studies where HOPS has been evaluated. However, teachers and mental health clinicians could also implement HOPS and parents can use the parent manual to apply some of the strategies on their own.

What if I want to implement HOPS in small groups or with my entire class instead of individually?

  • When implementing HOPS with a small group or class-wide, the clinician or teacher needs to consider two things. First, how will behavior be managed? HOPS uses a points system for encouraging organization and time-management skills. Some schools have made it so students can also earn points for behavior when HOPS is implemented in small group settings. This is because it can be more challenging to manage behavior in groups as compared to 1 to 1 implementation. Second, HOPS involves the frequent completion of checklists to evaluate how students are progressing with their organization and time-management skills. This is easy to accomplish individually but can be challenging in larger groups. The clinician or teacher may want students to complete their own checklists, to pair up with other students to complete the checklists, or to involve more than one staff person in delivering the intervention.

How do I motivate students to improve their organization and time-management skills?

  • The HOPS manual recommends the use of goal setting and a points system to increase motivation. The key is to set realistic and achievable goals when starting the HOPS intervention. It is important to show students in HOPS that they can have success to facilitate buy-in and motivation. This may mean at first setting very basic goals, such as “recording something” in a planner or “bringing a binder to our meeting”. Ensuring that the student has success will allow you to build and to set additional, higher-reaching, goals. The HOPS manual describes how to create a rewards menu which is one option for increasing motivation. As students accumulate points by meeting checklist criteria, they are able to pick items off of the rewards menu (e.g., bring a friend to our meeting, play a game during our meeting, or a get out of homework pass).

The HOPS checklist criteria and the way organization is defined doesn’t work well for my class/school, what do I do?

  • You are welcome to use fewer or more criteria, or to edit the wording of the checklist criteria. The critical component is having criteria that clearly define what it means to be organized and to manage time effectively. Ask yourself, “What do I want to see”? Write the criteria in such a way that you can easily observe the behavior and mark “yes” or “no” as to whether it occurred. Doing so will allow you to set goals and consistently monitor progress around organization and time management. Being flexible and editing the criteria can also facilitate buy-in from students and teachers because they have a say in helping to define what they want to see with respect to organization and time-management behaviors.

I don’t understand how to complete the time-management checklist.

  • The key to completing the time-management checklist is to understand that the criteria build and represent more and more advanced ways of recording plans to complete work and to study. When completing the checklist, give the student credit only for the highest (most advanced) criterion met. Do so by writing the class subject (e.g., math) and the date in the box next to the highest criterion met. A student can demonstrate time-management and planning behaviors for more than one class and should get credit for each instance of demonstrated planning. For example, a student might meet one criterion for math and a different criterion (or the same one) for English on the same day, and should get credit for both.

Is it really necessary for students to get teacher initials?

  • No. Teacher initials are a means to an end. It is important for the individual implementing HOPS and for parents to be able to easily determine what homework has been assigned and what tests are coming up. Having reliable information is essential to evaluate whether or not the student is accurately recording and planning ahead with respect to homework and tests. Teacher initials is one way to quickly establish whether or not the information recorded is accurate. However, many schools have online systems where teachers post homework and tests a week or so in advance. If they do so consistently, there is no need for teacher initials because the individual delivering HOPS has a way to check the accuracy of what was recorded. Another alternative is to “trust” the student you are working with and to conduct random reliability checks with teachers. If the student is being honest with you about what they remembered to record and what they might have forgotten, then there is no need for initials to serve as a reliability check.

I would like to hire an expect in HOPS to provide a training on how to implement the intervention to my school practice/district.

  • If you would like in-person or virtual training for your practice/district, please contact us directly for information about pricing.

Other questions?