Hacky way to add a placeholder/ empty value on flutter direct-select package

Direct Select

// Create a few methods to build the direct select that take additional options to add the placeholder
// and account for the changed index of doing this
// These are the following 3 methods

DirectSelectItem<String> _getDropDownMenuItem(value) {
    return DirectSelectItem<String>(
        key: ValueKey(new DateTime.now()),
        itemHeight: 60,
        value: value,
        itemBuilder: (context, value) {
          return Padding(
            padding: const EdgeInsets.symmetric(horizontal: 16.0),
            child: Text(
              value,
              style: TextStyle(
                color: brightBlue
              )
            ),
          );
        });
  }

  _getDslDecoration() {
    return BoxDecoration(
      // color: headerBg,
      border: BorderDirectional(
        bottom: BorderSide(width: 1, color: brightBlue),
        top: BorderSide(width: 1, color: brightBlue),
      ),
    );
  }

  _makeDirectSelectList(List<String> items, int selectedIndex, Function onSelect, [Map<String,dynamic> options]) {

    if (items[0] != options['placeholder']) {
      items.insert(0, options['placeholder']);
    }

    final dsl = new DirectSelectList<String>(
      values: items,
      defaultItemIndex: selectedIndex,
      itemBuilder: (String value) => _getDropDownMenuItem(value),
      focusedItemDecoration: _getDslDecoration(),
      onItemSelectedListener: (item, index, context) {
        final List<Map> originalList = new List<Map>.from(options['originalList']);

        if (options['placeholder'] != null && index != 0) {
          onSelect(item, index, context, originalList, index - 1);
        } else if (options['placeholder'] != null && index == 0) {
          return;
        } else {
          onSelect(item, index, context, originalList);
        }
      }
    );
    
    
    // Then I can use it like this in my template
    
    _makeDirectSelectList(_selectableZoneNames, _selectedZoneIndex, (zone, index, context, originalList, correctedIndex) {
      setState(() {
        _selectedZoneId = originalList[correctedIndex]['id'];
        _selectedZoneIndex = index;
      });
    }, {
      'originalList': _selectableZones,
      'placeholder': 'Select Zone'.toUpperCase()
    })