Organization — or a lack of it — is one challenge that ADHD students face. ADHD students are often flighty and easily flustered. In many instances, lack of organizational skills can lead to academic struggles. If your kid struggles with ADHD, you can likely help him in overcome his challenges by helping him develop and maintain an organizational system.
Step 1
Speak to your child’s teacher about in-class organization efforts. Some teachers teach children organization in class, particularly in the lower grades. To ensure that your efforts fit in with the teacher’s plans, discuss this with the teacher at the beginning of the year.
Step 2
Set up a binder for your child. Purchase a binder in your child’s favorite color and dividers. Allow your child to help with setting up this binder, creating a section for each class, and perhaps even decorate the binder and dividers with stickers to make them his own.
Step 3
Create an information sheet for your child. Type up a sheet with information that your child needs for school success, including his class schedule, his locker number and combination and his bus number. Place this sheet front and center in his binder to ensure he has this information at his fingertips.
Step 4
Teach your child to use a weekly planner. If your child’s school provides students with a planner, teach him how to use this. If not, purchase one for him to use so he can record his homework and other pertinent information.
Step 5
Check your child’s organization nightly. Many ADHD children have a tendency to tuck papers loosely in their binders instead of securing them in the proper section. Go through the binder each night with your kid and place any out-of-place papers back where they belong.
Step 6
Respond to challenges that your child experiences by modifying your organizational plan. If your plan doesn’t appear to be working for your child, change it. The entire point of creating an organizational plan for your child is to prepare him to better organize himself in the future. If your plan doesn’t work for him, stubbornly sticking to it is futile.
Step 7
Reward the child for organizational success. While organization is ultimately its own reward, your child won’t realize this yet. To allow him to see that there is a benefit to his organizational efforts, create rewards for him.
