Jan 19 2009
Manic Monday - Office: Helping Special Needs Students get Organized
Manic Monday prompt from Mo
The other day, someone was asking about tools to help a teenager with high-functioning autism get more organized (I apologize for not remembering who/where this came from). Kids with high-functioning autism, Asperger’s syndrome, ADHD, and other learning challenges can find it overwhelming and frustrating to keep track of all their responsibilities as they get older and expectations increase. There are a few tools and strategies that may be helpful. Some of these I use in my own home office because I seem to have a harder time keeping my own brain straight with every passing day.
Young Students & Pre-readers
When Gus went into kindergarten, he transitioned from an ABA program to a TEACCH program. Each student had an office, a desk walled in by tall file cabinets that held the student’s instructional materials and files for the year. The front of the student’s cabinet held his schedule, small laminated image cards to represent each segment of his day (think of PECS cards). Each card had a Velcro back and the student could remove each task as it was completed.
With the help of Gus’s teacher, we adapted this system for home to help Gus in managing his routine without constant verbal cues from us. For example, at bedtime, he could put up his cards and then remove each one (bath/pajamas/brush teeth) as it was done, right up to the point of getting in bed. Until he was able to set his own schedule up, I could do it for him and he just had to follow it. It was very helpful at the time.
Older students
There are several computer applications that work wonderfully for getting organized. I personally use the calendar in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. But I also spend a great deal of time in front of my computer, so this type of tool is great! Google offers a free calendar if you have a Google account. If your child has a cell phone, many of them have some sort of calender function, or information from an online calendar can be imported into many of them. This may not seem appropriate for a special needs student, but it largely depends on the child. Some students are much better interacting with technology than others.
The computerized calendars may not be practical for other special needs students, so my next best suggestion would be the Flylady system. I have no affiliation with Flylady, except that I’ve used her suggestions, and even though I fall off the wagon regularly, they’ve helped me a great deal. She offers a section of her site geared toward kids including tips specifically for students that can be customized any way they need to help get organized.
You can also get creative and work with your child to create the organization method that best suits him or her. You can have loads of fun with a large desk sized calendar and some stickers, or perhaps your child is tech savvy and responsible enough to handle more sophisticated tools. How do you help your child learn to become more organized?
