Get organised!

Children with poor concentration or motor planning difficulties often battle to organise themselves and their belongings. Here are some strategies to improve organisation.

1.     List making

List making is an essential ingredient for sequential planning and organisational abilities. Start with short, brief lists that can be easily completed and ‘ticked off’. Competency in list making, leads eventually to goal-setting skills. In the higher grades, teachers often find that children struggle to prioritise, list making can be a building block for tasks at higher cognitive levels. For younger children make short lists using symbols or simple pictures. Lists on the inside of the school bag can help them to remember to pack everything they need.

2.     Memory Tricks to remember homework assignments

Associate one colour with each subject (e.g. red for maths). Use coloured dot stickers and place a red dot next to the maths homework in the child’s diary or homework book. Put a red dot on the homework page or worksheet too. Use that colour for everything related to that subject, e.g. cover the child’s book in red paper.

3.     Daily organisation is important

Order and routine in the classroom and at home is important. Have an organised, regular, spot for doing homework, free from distractions. In this spot, have a designated spot for all materials e.g. pencils, calculator etc. You can even mark the outlines of the pencil case or the ruler onto the desk so the child can organise their desks themselves. The area should have a place where the school bag gets put every day, as well as a consistent space to put homework lists or the homework diary.

Have a set routine in the mornings that includes the child checking the daily/weekly timetable to see what needs to be packed into his bag each day.

4.     Use timetables, calendars and daily planners 

Put up timetables in a visible spot. Have daily, weekly and monthly (especially relevant during high school) timetables. For younger children, keep it simple and use pictures or symbols on the timetable. Post a large planning calendar in the room. The student should carry a daily calendar book. Teach him to colour code or mark special due dates with a highlighting marker. Calendars with hourly time schedules listed down the side, work well for after-school planning. Students can break homework tasks down into small manageable time periods and include times for special activities (such as watching TV).

Taken in part from Attention Deficit Disorder – Strategies for School-Age Children. Clare B. Jones, Ph. D. Communication Skill Builders.

Here are some ideas for making a kids' timetable from Planning with Kids