Children with ADHD have numerous organizational difficulties such as not bringing the right books home, sometimes forgetting to complete assignments while at other times working hard on an assignment and then forgetting to turn it in and they also have a tendency to work too quickly on an assignment which leads to simple mistakes that nevertheless bring down grades.  Older students often have difficulty with time management such as knowing how to break down a long assignment into smaller steps or how to approach studying for a test covering multiple units of instruction.

             These difficulties are the result of impairment in what psychologists call executive functioning.  Children with age appropriate skills will be able to master these organization tasks with little or no help from adults.  However, these do not come naturally to kids with ADHD but they can learn these skills and with an appropriate reinforcement program can learn to implement the skills to the point they become a habit. 

             Parents can help by working closely with their child and his or her teachers.  Work out a system for getting feedback from the teacher on assignments that are due and assignments that have been turned in.  A simple form that is completed weekly or exchange of week emails may be just fine.  The parent can also work with their child in learning how to accurately record their assignments in a student planner.  Take a look at the planners at KristensGuide.com and select the one that works best for you and download it for free. 

             The next major project for parent and child to work on is to put together an effective homework binder.  The study put forth the following criteria for binder organization: (a) a section for each class; (b) a folder in the front for homework to complete and one in the back for homework to turn in; (c) all folders and papers are punched for a three ring binder (no loose papers allowed).

             Children will also need help organizing their book bag which should limit extraneous objects and perhaps a check sheet to make sure all of the necessary books are in place before leaving campus.  If your child has a locker, you may want to go to campus and help him or her learn how to organize it to make it easy to find needed supplies.  For more practical help on this topic I suggest getting a copy of   The Organized Student: Teaching Children the Skills for Success in School and Beyond.            Teaching skills is important.  Most kids with ADHD also benefit from a simple reward program to help them to consistently employ the skills they have learned.  This can be as simple as earning privileges such as TV or video game time each day they complete and turn in all of their assignments or a special outing on the weekend for a week of improvement.  In some cases you may start out with requirement lower than 100%.  Even 50% may be much better than 10% or less.  As your child shows improvement you can raise the bar.  Shaping of behavior often works more effectively with children.  When the skills are well established you may throw a celebration and then discontinue the reward system though continued monitoring and praise for exceptional accomplishment should be ongoing.

             Please check out kidsadhd.com for more suggestions on helping your child with school issues.  Also, in addition to learning skills and improving behavior, children with ADHD benefit greatly from improving how they see themselves and others.  This along with help on improving cognitive skills are provided as part of a number of components in Total Focus which I developed as a comprehensive approach to be used by parents and kids working together as a team to achieve success not only at school but in life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: ADHD, School

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