How to Help Your ADHD Child Become Organized

A Guide to Teaching Your Child the Importance of Order

Mar 25, 2009

True organization starts with an organized thought process and the ability to focus on a specific task, assess that task, and then break it down into workable pieces.

By definition, a child with ADHD lacks focus. This lack of focus can lead to extreme difficulty in organizing thoughts and ideas, school work and materials, and personal possessions. This lack of organization can lead to frustration for the child, parents and teachers on a daily basis.

This does not have to be the case because, as Ariane Benefit, M.S. E.d notes on her website Neat & Simple, organization is a learned skill. Therefore, with a little patience and perseverance, you can partner with your child to develop a system of organization to help him achieve self-confidence and success.

Help Your ADHD Child Begin Learning the Skill of Organization

Since ADHD children are faced with the challenge of organizing their thoughts, this skill is especially difficult to master. Therefore, the effect of disorganization on an ADHD child can lead to decreased self-confidence, thus lower levels of achievement and performance.

According to the Teacher's Guide [Cambridge Educational, 2005] published as an adjunct to the video program, “Get Organized! Managing School, Life and Fun" [copyright 2006], there are three important areas that a child needs to understand and accept that are key to his success in becoming organized:

Discuss these areas with your child and come up with a set of goals that you both agree with. It is important to start out with just a few goals and master them. Once you have mastered the first set, layer in another set. It is essential to instill a sense of accomplishment rather than frustrate your child, so keep the goals attainable.

Partner with Your ADHD Child to Establish an Achievable Organizational Goal

The ADD Treatment Centers website notes that “well-defined limits and goals provide children with a basis for evaluating their present performance.” It is important to discuss your child’s progress with him at least once a week to see how he feels he is performing.

By partnering with your child, you are instilling a sense of ownership in him that will make his success even more desirable. As William B. Werther Jr. notes in his article “Workshops in Goal Setting,” found in Unit 3 of the Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies text [ Phi Theta Kappa, Inc.,1995], a person is “more likely to be supportive of goals they have actually set. Participation creates a sense of ownership.” He will want to continue receiving positive feedback and feel proud of a job well down.

If your child requires a little motivation beyond this, create a reward system. This is a personal choice, but rewards that give a child a sense of control, such as allowing him to stay up 15 minutes later, can bolster self-confidence even more. When your child achieves the goals that you have set together and then realizes an authoritative reward, he will want to continue to succeed.

As noted in Diana Loomans and Julia Loomans' book, Full Esteem Ahead: 100 Ways to Build Self-Esteem in Children and Adults [H.J. Kramer, October, 1994], children with ADHD tend to perform in accordance with expectations. Therefore, if a child reaches his goal and achieves a new sense of accomplishment, he will expect to do so for the next goal as well. A positive cycle of success and self-confidence can be attained.

Children with ADHD generally have highly sensitive personalities. Because of this, Benefit notes, "it is important to keep in mind that highly sensitive personality types require ultra-simple, completely custom systems because just one extra step, like opening a drawer for instance, could be the one step that causes the system to fail." You must create systems that work best for your child. Flexibility is key, and you may need to modify a system as you and your child adapt to it.

The copyright of the article How to Help Your ADHD Child Become Organized in ADHD Children is owned by Christin Aitchison. Permission to republish How to Help Your ADHD Child Become Organized in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.