Life With ADHD Inattentive Kids
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Help your ADHD Child to FOCUS!Disorganization probably causes more problems for the ADHD/Inattentive child (and parent!) than any other symptom. Our NEW PAC-Kit planner will help your child get - and stay organized.Homework woes have always plagued our home - just like yours. Part of the problem was that the boys often couldn't - or didn't - copy their homework down correctly, or if they did, they left the needed books or materials at school. You've been there - "In your spelling notebook, write sentences with each of the spelling words." And no list of words comes home, nor does the spelling notebook. We bought planners, but the only kids' calendars I could find had tiny lines for writing, distracting images, and unnecessary information. Since I couldn't find the perfect planner, I created one myself, and over the years our original planner has evolved to meet the changing needs of our boys in different grades. You can read about the PAC-kit here. I think you’ll find it to be a great help in teaching your child to plan to succeed! Graphic Organizer~There's a trend in schools to encourage children to visually organize their thoughts, which is great news for our more visual kids. Biology notes are much easier for to remember if they are mapped. Click here to see an example of a computer generated graphic organizer. Note that this one is cumbersomely drawn for the internet; your child can draw them quickly by hand or on an easy drawing program. Filing System~As children grow, so do their backpacks, making hooks impractical. To keep all your child's school gear neat and uncluttered, give her a two drawer file cabinet. Backpack, clothes, homework, sports gear, and anything else needed for the next day can be kept in one location. Make sure you buy a filing cabinet large enough to contain the bookbags, or you'll end up with the bookbag on top. A Model Plan~Each night, have a set time for the whole family to prepare for the next day. Lay out clothes, keys, shoes, and lunches. Look over the schedule and plan for rides, meetings, and practices. 
Do this as a family, to model to your child how to think, "Okay, the boys have a physical tomorrow. I need to take their shot records, sports release forms, a novel to read in the waiting room, and the checkbook. They also need to have on clean underwear and matching socks." This will be especially easy if you prepare...
Clothes for a Week~Eliminate one more thing from the nightly grind. On Sundays, have your child pick out clothes for the entire week and place them into an organizer like the one pictured here, which can be purchased at Amazon.com  . Empty Your Pockets!~If your son has a habit of scribbling down homework assignments onto a piece of paper and losing them, follow the example of the mom who placed a large container right where her son came into the house. As he comes in from school, she has him deposit everything on his body - bookbag, books, pens, pencils, sports equipment. She also makes him empty his pockets, so that the assignments can be located when it's time to begin homework. Label Conscious~Many teachers are now requiring a child to keep an organized notebook of all classwork, tests, handouts, and notes. The teacher then has a 'notebook check', sometimes unannounced. This can be a nightmare for our kids. Go through your child's bookbag on a daily basis and help him to keep his stuff sorted. The key to organization will be labeling. Each page needs to be labeled with the subject and the type of work it is, whether homework, classwork, quizzes, or notes. It's difficult to get our kids to remember to label, but make it a priority for them. Enlist the teacher's support if necessary. She's on the Web!~Many teachers have started to create websites for their classrooms, and they often post notes, homework, and upcoming tests or projects. Ask your teachers if they are on the web. If they aren't, maybe you can assist them in becoming internet accessible! What's the plural of syllabus?~Make a notebook for all the handouts your child's teachers send home. It's hard to remember classroom policies, grading scales, and course outlines for all the teachers. Created a section in a three ring binder for each of your children. Punch holes in all the handouts, then file them in your notebook for future reference. As other correspondence comes home, add to the collection. Advocacy notebook~Another kind of notebook is recommended in A Parent's Guide to the IEP. This one should hold all correspondence, old IEP's or 504's, information on medication, research, ideas for interventions, and anything else relating to all important school meetings. This wonderful, must have guide is now available with ideas and strategies specific for an IEP for the ADHD child. Click here to order. Code Red~Assign each of your child's subjects a color, and buy notebooks, binders, and file folders to match. Store a small supply of paper in the file folder or binder, and use a marker to color the edge of the paper. We've heard that some teachers will allow use of colored paper, but we've never run into one! More than one~Having a small three ring binder for each class often works better than one large binder. Computer Illiteracy~One of the least organized places in most homes is the computer. Ironically, the computer is also one of the best organizing tools most of us own. If you save files and can't find them, or if you're still trying to figure out where your hard drive is, you need a free membership to The Newbie Club. Joe, the Newbie club guy, will help you get the maximum potential from your PC. Since he prides himself on never using confusing geek-speak, you can actually understand and follow his tutorials and directions! Joe has a FREE newsletter that continues to teach me new things about my computer.Click here to join! Doctor, Doctor!~Use the last few weeks of summer to schedule all your visits to the doctor, dentist, orthodontist, neurologist, optometrist, and ophthalmologist. (Yes, I'm looking at my calendar.) Get them over with before school starts so your days will be as free as possible. Contact the school regarding any forms necessary for medication, sports physicals, or and immunization. Have them fax the forms directly to the doctor to be placed in your child's chart. They'll be waiting for you when you arrive, and you'll look efficient with a minimum of work! Bringing in the Sheets~One of the best ways to help keep our children organized is to be organized ourselves, and to reduce the amount of clutter in our homes. I just went through all the sheets and pillowcases we have accumulated over the years. I matched them, and had each person choose two sets. Everything else I gave to Goodwill. No more digging through the linens! Share the Joy~Help your child break the hoarding habit before it starts! Set up a place somewhere in your house for "give away stuff". Tell your kids (and your spouse) to put things they will never wear into the bin instead of shoving them further back in the drawer. When the bin is full, give the clothes to charity or hand them down. Think Outside the Drawer~Who ever said that underwear and socks had to be kept in the dresser? To help organize, keep underwear in the bathroom, and socks in a drawer or plastic container near where you store your shoes. When in Doubt~Toss it Out~The disorganization of children with ADHD often leads them to amass large amounts of clutter. All that stuff is very distracting. Summer is a great time to go through your child's room, and get rid of as much as possible. Store the rest in a place that will not visually distract: in a different room, in a closet, or high on shelf. Choosing to Play the Accordion~Ben is in the sixth grade, and has classic disorganization problems. This semester, one of his teachers talked to Ben about why his grades were so low. He told her that he understood the work, and usually did it, but then he couldn't find it or forgot to turn it in. (Sound familiar?) This wise teacher then asked Ben to devise his own way to keep organized, and Ben chose to keep all his homework in an accordion folder. To his mother's joy and relief, Ben's grades have come up, mainly because his work is getting turned in. Letting Ben create his own strategy gave him ownership of the plan. He also had some insight into what would work and what wouldn't work for him. |
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