Adaptive Learning
ISSUE 14
15 Ways to Teach Better Organization to Kids with ADHD
by: ADDitude EditorsHow teachers and parents can help children with ADHD master better organization and time-management skills at school and at home.
Work with your student or child to build systems or routines that encourage better organizational skills. Here are some ideas for getting started…
Classroom Solutions
1. Color-code academic materials. Use green for all science notebooks, binders, and folders, plus keep related classroom materials in matching green bins.
2. Post steps for routines. Hang colorful signs to show where homework, lunchboxes, and parent-teacher correspondence should be placed. A reminder about dismissal might read: Did you clear off your desk? Did you pack your book bag? Do you have your jacket, lunchbox, and homework assignment?
Post procedures for special periods, such as library time or computer lab, and hand out copies for students to keep in their binders.
3. Simplify the flow of papers. Provide each student with three clear, pocket-type folders — labeled “Mail,” “Homework to Do,” and “Completed Homework.”
[Get This Free Download: 10 Solutions for Disorganization at School]
4. Schedule a class clean-up. Provide time for students to declutter their binders, backpacks, and desks. Hold periodic
inspections, and award prizes for tidiness.
5. Post a master calendar showing all upcoming activities, projects, and deadlines.
6. Use an analog clock, which makes it easier for students to track the passage of time. Make a game out of predicting how long various activities take.
7. Provide structure for long-term projects, and break projects into manageable steps. Post deadlines for each stage and refer to them frequently. Let parents know about these due dates, as well.
[Click to Read: School Organization 101 — Clutter-Free Backpacks and Bedrooms]
Home Solutions
1. Help your child categorize his school materials — notebooks/binders, workbooks/texts, pens/pencils — and assign each category its own compartment or pocket in his backpack. A three-ring binder with colored tabs for separate subjects and inserts with pockets for notes, works well for many students.
2. Separate ongoing projects, finished work, and school and art supplies into labeled bins, folders, file cabinets, or an under-bed box in your child’s room.
3. Provide a shelf for books and a bulletin board for reminders. Give your child a stapler, a three-hole punch, big binder clips, and other ADHD -friendly organization tools
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4. Fill a supply cabinet with pencils, rulers, tape, binders, and other essentials. Post a checklist in the cabinet that your child can mark when she takes an item.
5. Keep an extra set of textbooks at home. Make the extra books part of the IEP, or request them from the teacher at the beginning of the term.
6. Prepare for the next day. As your child packs his book bag each evening, make sure that homework is in its folder and that everything he’ll need — violin, sneakers, lunch money — is ready to go in the morning. Reserve a shelf or cabinet by the front door for items that your child takes to school every day. Label it with colored stickers, so that glasses, wallet, and bus pass can be easily found. Hang a hook underneath for a backpack or sports bag.
7. Give your child a pad of sticky notes, and encourage him to post special reminders on mirrors, doors, and elsewhere.
8. Give your child a daily planner to keep track of deadlines, appointments, events, and so on. Encourage her to keep a daily to-do list, and teach her to prioritize by dividing tasks into two groups: Important (do it now!) and Less Important (do it anytime). Go over the next day’s schedule together every night.
https://www.readandspell.com/dyslexia-strengths
Dyslexia strengths you should know about
People with dyslexia possess many strengths thanks to the unique ways in which their brains process stimuli, including language.
Many individuals with dyslexia are right-brain dominant.
The right and left hemispheres of the brain are organized in a slightly different way. On the right, cells are more evenly distributed (versus in clusters).
This means connections have to cross larger distances, which helps dyslexics with big-picture thinking, spotting patterns, and taking a more open and creative approach to problem-solving.
Dyslexics are often holistic rather than linear thinkers.
While memorizing facts may not be their strong suit, children and adults with dyslexia often have the ability to integrate personal experiences with acquired knowledge to generate new ideas.
They can make great team players and be extremely creative students who are artistically gifted and have an intuitive sense of spatial organization
That’s because visual thinking and spatial reasoning are both associated with right-brain thinking.
No two individuals with dyslexia are alike
Keep in mind that no two individuals with dyslexia are the same. Dyslexia can be mild or severe. Reading could be more of a problem than spelling. The same is true of dyslexia strengths, which may vary significantly from one person to the next.
TIP: Did you know that many groups today advocate for more neutral language to describe dyslexia , such as calling it a specific learning difficulty or difference instead of a disability?
Dyslexics are sometimes thought of as being at a disadvantage in the classroom or workplace because of the way in which they make sense of written language. Yet the notion that individuals with dyslexia should all go to art school or work in a trade is a thing of the past.
With the right coping strategies and tools, there is no reason why someone with dyslexia can’t achieve their full potential in the career or university degree program of their choosing.
When dyslexia is undiagnosed
This is not necessarily the case when dyslexia goes undiagnosed.
If they are struggling with reading, dyslexic kids can quickly fall behind their peers at school.
Over time, poor performance and frustration can lead to a negative attitude toward learning and activities involving reading and writing.
It can also cause people to lose confidence in their abilities and develop an unhealthy sense of self-worth.
Many students with dyslexia focus on their literacy skills deficits, without celebrating or even acknowledging the strengths they possess.
But having teachers or instructors who are dyslexia aware and can incorporate and promote dyslexia friendly-teaching and learning strategies, can make a big difference.
Read more about helping dyslexic students in the classroom.
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What is dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that affects reading and spelling skills. Dyslexia has nothing to do with intelligence; it simply describes a different kind of cognitive processing.
Dyslexia can present in different ways, but most people struggle with phonological dyslexia which makes it difficult to split words into their component sounds. This interrupts the decoding process in reading and is why many dyslexics also struggle with spelling.
Strategies for dyslexic learners
It’s not uncommon to find a dyslexic student relies primarliy on sight reading , which is a form of whole word recognition that doesn’t involve sounding words out.
Many students with dyslexia also use spelling strategies , including creating mnemonics devices to remember hard-tolearn words.
Mastering touch-typing is another strategy that can help. Typing transforms a word’s spelling into a sequence of keystrokes and muscle movements, which may be easier for someone with dyslexia to remember.
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Reasons why eye contact can be hard for those on the spectrum by:
Kerry MagroThis guest post is by Dr. Kerry Magro Ed.D., a professional speaker, best-selling author and autism entertainment consultant who is on the autism spectrum. A version of this blog appeared on Kerrymagro.com. Follow Kerry on Facebook .
Growing up on the autism spectrum, eye contact was challenging. Often it felt like an internal pressure from sensory stimulation. As a professional speaker who now gives talks with companies as part of professional development, I often mention getting rid of the interview process because of challenges like this. Instead, I recommend companies do a 1-day job trial to show what autistic employees may be capable of forgoing this challenge.
Here are 5 reasons why we should never make autistic people force eye contact:
It can be distracting. The structure was always crucial for me growing up on the spectrum. For example, when I was uncomfortable in a new surrounding, it would take me time to process the area. When that happened, I often would have someone in that recent place talk who’d want to talk to me, making me think that eye contact was needed. That interfered with me being able to view my surroundings.
Social anxiety. Processing what to say while consciously having eye contact felt like multi-tasking growing up. When I could talk without the need for eye contact, communication, and for that matter, listening, it was much more manageable.
Nonverbal communication. Autistic people like myself sometimes have facial cues and nonverbal body language issues. For example, maintaining eye contact would make me feel less able to connect with somewhile while trying to process what they were trying to emote via their expressions.
Burnout. Masking was something I’d do subconsciously, where as part of social rules, I always thought I had to look someone in the eye, or I was being rude. Of course, this would mean I’d need to be in bed for a while after school or work to feel better.
Sensory overall. If I’m in an area with bright lights, I’d need to change my eyes to the ground growing up if I didn’t have my sunglasses. Loud noises, too, would often make me look at the ground, not allowing me to have that eye contact.
Despite these challenges, theater therapy helped me build on my eye contact over time to the point where it’s not mean being forced to look someone in the eye. Still, it’s something I’m comfortable with. For those reading this, you should never force someone into eye contact. Instead, meet them where they are and find a way to communicate best for them. You may be surprised how some talented autistic individuals in our community may perform both in school and later on, perhaps in the workplace, because of it.
“For those reading this, you should never force someone into eye contact. Instead, meet them where they are and find a way to communicate best for them. “
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KES Curriculum Support Team
For more information about anything covered in the magazine, or general information about learning support, please contact:
King Edward VI School SENDCO
Mrs Ramshaw
znr@kes.hants.sch.uk