Resources for organizational and executive function help for ADHD child

[foxyoxy21]

Can any recommend specific methods or resources to help ADHD child with organizing their schedule, homework etc? Have you like any specific mindfulness techniques that worked for your child?

[Birdwatcher19]

For organization/bolstering EF skills, try “Smart but Scattered” by Peg Dawson. ADDitude magazine has many good tips as well. How old is the child? For mindfulness, I like the book/audio exercises “Sitting Still Like a Frog,” but it’s geared toward younger kids (6-12). There are several good apps out there, too. Calm has some kids content. Also, Stop, Breathe, Think (which I think just changed its name, but I forget what it’s called now).

[foxyoxy21 in reply to Birdwatcher19]

Thank you. I will look into these. A great start to sift through all these resources.

[N_37]

The most helpful thing for us has been making everything visual: print out or write out school schedule and what happened during each block - make a list of homework tasks each day and then let child decide which ones will be worked on during homework time and have them check them off as they go. Make this all visible and accessible. We have a schedule on the fridge, a schedule on his work mat, and a schedule on his school cart that keeps all his school supplies/computer etc. His teachers have also color coded which assignments are done on each day and have separated everything out into google slides - a slide for each assignment or task. Lastly, use timers - the kinds I like are the ones that show how much time is left like a pie - look on amazon, they’re kitchen timers.

[foxyoxy21 in reply to N_37]

we found that this is very helpful. Perhaps will need to adjust the specific formatting for the visuals. thank you for the information

[N_37 in reply to foxyoxy21]

they more "bite-sized" the better usually. I think it can be overwhelming and scary to see a "huge" assignment and not understand how much time that will take or how it will get done. It can feel like it'll take a lifetime. For example, my stepson would get worksheets with 20 small math problems on them - we'd have him try to complete 10 of them at a time, and set a timer for 30 minutes. It seemed to be easier to focus and wiggle less since he only had to pay attention to 10 math problems in that moment, not 20 math problems, and then spelling and potentially reading comprehension. If the timer went off, we simple asked him how much time he'd like to add to his timer and we'd added more time, even if he only needed 5 more minutes. We'd also put all that other stuff out of sight, as it would make him want to jump into something in the middle of his math session, throwing everything off. I think having him mark off and do one thing at a time really built up his self esteem and made him feel like he really could do it, as unfocused as he felt. Don't get me wrong, there's a bit of fighting at first, but the more you do it, the more smoothy it goes.

We started adding a lot of body breaks in between classes and homework time. We do grounding activities and body movement activities. They take anywhere from 2 minutes to 15 minutes. 15 minutes being straight up "run around in the yard like a wacky animal and and make any noises you want to until you feel like you got it all out" it's pretty freeing! Our favorite technique is currently "lift, carry, place." We walk down the hallway slowly, and we "life" our leg, "carry" our leg and "place" our leg down on the ground, alternating legs/feet until we get to the other side. We also do deep breathing and I have him close his eyes and think about where in his body he "feels the most energy" - if he says "arms" then I tell him to pretend his arms are spaghetti noodles and he needs to wiggle them out until they're all out of energy, and so on until he feels all wiggled out.

Sorry I totally wrote you a novel! remote school has been a doozy. this last 11 months or whatever.

[foxyoxy21 in reply to N_37]

Lol...I pictured the running and screening in the yard. I can see that working to help get energy out. I like the idea of breaking it down onto smaller pieces. Less overwhelming for the kid.

[123boys]

Google Sarah Ward executive function. She is amazing in her explanation of executive function and practical solutions to help.

I have watched her on several webinars. She did one last year TEFOS (organized by Seth Perler) that I was able to watch for free but I believe that you would have to pay now.

Here are some links to her work.

cde.state.co.us/cdesped/exe...

brightandquirky.com/helpful...

[foxyoxy21 in reply to 123boys]

I will look into these. Thank you so much for the resource.

[Onthemove1971]

I am enjoying the Podcast Learn smarter. It is recorded by 2 amazing women who devote their lived to helping kids with ADHD and helping them learn smarter. I love that they have special guest educate the listeners about educating kids who struggle. Enjoy!

This is the link for the App Castbox, with the podcast learn smarter.

castbox.fm/va/2448721

[foxyoxy21 in reply to Onthemove1971]

This is such a great resource. Thank you!