Organization Skills
Inside this Issue:
EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING – why children with ADHD have difficulty with organization
CLASSROOM ORGANIZATION – how to set the classroom up for success
ORGANIZATION TRAINING – strategies to help students manage their time, materials, and assignments
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Executive Functioning:
Executive functioning skills help people organize their materials and their time, prioritize tasks, efficiently interpret events, and plan. The part of the brain that controls executive functioning
skills is like a CEO of a company, capable of making and managing short and long-term goals, planning and managing the resources to accomplish those goals, and organizing materials and resources over time.
Some children, particularly those with ADHD, have deficits in executive functioning skills. As a result, they have more difficulty independently organizing their materials, completing routines,
planning for upcoming activities, and transitioning from one activity to another. Many of the problems exhibited by children with ADHD are related to disorganization. These include:
- Frequently losing or misplacing assignments or other materials
- Having a messy and disorganized desk or book bag
- Forgetting to take items home, bring items to school, and completing or turning in assignments
Because children with ADHD have a deficiency with organization, they need supports (to-do lists, timers, visual reminders) and specific training in organizational skills.
Setting up the Classroom:
Here are some ways you can design your classroom to help students succeed with organization skills.
Here are some ways you can design your classroom to help students
succeed with organization skills.
- Organize backpack/cubby and homework area
- Set up a designated, neat space with specific instructions for where children are to place belongings upon entering and leaving school, as well as designated space for keeping their school materials and turning in assignments.
- Use timers
- When students are to be working independently, it may help to provide them with reminders about the time remaining (e.g., “We have 10 minutes left of work time.”)
- In addition to the reminders, you can use the clock or a large timer so students can see the passing of time, helping them to judge their pace.
- Use a planner
- Teach students to write assignments and tests in a planner.
- Encourage parents to sign the planner to increase parent/teacher communication and inform parents about homework.
- Prioritizing
- Help students prioritize the tasks and assignments they have for the week (e.g., which ones are due tomorrow, which are most challenging).
Organization Training:
The goal of organization training is to help the student learn to independently organize his/her materials and tasks. The key to this is to take a collaborative approach with the student to improve organization skills and to make it fun.
- FIRST – decide what you want to organize: cubby, book bag, or desk.
- SECOND – meet with the student to review the current state of their materials and to discuss how organization can help them succeed in school.
- THIRD – collaboratively, create a checklist of all important aspects of organization (e.g., all pencils belong in a case, all papers belong in a folder, no trask in desk). Define exactly how materials should be stored. Review this organization checklist to ensure the expectations are clear.
- FOURTH – Start using the system and conduct reviews using the checklist (e.g., 3 times per week). During the review, (a) praise each criterion on the checklist that is met and (b) require the student to fix each item that does not align with the agreed upon standard. Do not fix it for the child.
- FIFTH – fade the reviews to weekly as the student makes progress.
Tips for Success:
- When beginning skills training, keep it collaborative to help keep the student engaged.
- Take a photograph of materials that are organized per the standards so the student can see how it should look.
- Start with 3 reviews per week, then fade to 2 per week, and 1 per week as the student makes progress.
- Never fix the materials for the student. Having them fix the errors is part of the training and helps the student gain the skills.
- Conduct surprise checks with the student or when the student is out of class (e.g., specials). Leave notes and stickers to reward progress.
- Send a “Great Day!” note home to communicate progress to parents.
- Organization training can apply to book bags, desks, or other places where materials are stored or tasks recorded.
- It can take many weeks doing this training multiple times per week before the student maintains the system independently.
External Resources:
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