One of the most important things you can do to help your child in school is to help them get organized and stay organized. School success requires it. And I'm not just talking about shopping for new clothes and shoes.
Even if your kids don't have ADHD, organizing all their stuff and keeping it organized is often a challenge. But staying organized is also a big key to school success.
Bin Toy Organizer
Proceed with one project at a time.
Start with their room if there's stuff on the floor, under the bed and piled everywhere.
Set an intention to do this together without arguing. Your job is to make suggestions, not demands. Buy three brightly colored bins (even three good-sized waste baskets will do). Label them "put away," "give away" and "throw away." Now encourage your kids to get rid of as much as possible.
You'll want to model the behavior, so choose a similar project for yourself and get them to help you. I'm sure they'll have some great ideas about things you should toss.
Now that you've got room to move around their room and to temporarily take things out of the closet or drawers for sorting, repeat the "put away," "give away" and "throw away."
Use small crates, shelves, and drawers
Once they've gotten the "throw away" and "give away" bins out of the room, it's time to start figuring out ways to organize everything. One big toy bin isn't the answer--just keeps all that clutter in one place.
Small shelves and small plastic crates, drawers make organizing much simpler. You can buy organizing "stuff" or you can improvise and save money. The rule of thumb is the smaller (within reason) the storage unit, the easier to keep things organized.
Now label everything. When drawers and shelves and bins or crates are labeled, kids have an easier time sorting their belongings. They can decorate with stickers--whatever makes it fun for them.
Finally, take a close look at the height of dresser drawers, clothes rod, shelves in the closet. Are they too high for your child? When children use adult-sized shelves, rods, drawers, it makes staying organized more difficult.
Once your kids have their rooms, closets, and drawers organized, help them organize their desk (or table) where they can do homework and projects. They'll need all the necessary supplies in desk drawers or in plastic drawers or organizers for the top of the desk. Make sure they have two sets of school supplies: one set for school, one set for home. They'll need pencils, markers, scissors, tape, a ruler, erasers, pencil sharpeners, and extra paper at home, plus a place to keep these supplies.
Clutter and disorganization is hard on the brain. It's so confusing and distracting that sometimes it can cause ADHD-like behavior. So you'll want to take care of your kids' rooms first. Then it's on to organizing school supplies, lunches, homework habits, and schedules.
If you're not sure whether your child has ADHD or just ADHD-like behavior caused by something in their environment, I invite you to pick up a copy of the "ADHD Inventory and Checklist: 12 Conditions that Look Like ADHD but aren't" at http://smartkidssmartparents.com/adhd/inventory/
