Children with ADHD are typically disorganized, lose papers and homework, and have trouble managing their workload.  They often struggle to stay focused for long periods of time and study effectively. Yet as students move through school, each of these demands increase exponentially.  As a result, children with ADHD often face diminishing grades and school performance with each passing year. Help your ADHD child avoid this downhill path and excel in school with the study strategies detailed below.

Break down studying into chunks

Studying for a multi-chapter science test, completing a research project, or learning pages of information for a quiz can seem like insurmountable tasks to students with ADHD. ‎You can help your child feel less frustrated and more in control of her workload by encouraging her to break down each task into smaller chunks. For instance, if she has a history test covering18 pages of class notes and 3 book chapters, help her spread out her studying over one full week by perhaps ‎spending two days studying one book chapter and six pages of notes, the next two days studying  the second book chapter and six additional pages of notes, and the subsequent two days studying the final chapter and six more page of notes. On the final day she can focus on reviewing all of the material, in sum breaking down a seemingly daunting task into seven manageable days of studying for smaller increments of time.

Use a planner!

ADHD students often think they can remember all of their assignments without writing them down. While this memory-based approach may work for the early years of school, it becomes increasingly hard to do, especially as students approach upper elementary school. To make sure your child doesn’t miss any assignments, encourage him to consistently use an assignment book. While paper books work well, he can also use a computer or phone-based planner. On a daily basis, it is important that he writes down (or types) all tasks that are assigned, even if his school uses an online portal. He should add any after school activities, sports games, or other non-academic events, making his planner the central point for all of his obligations.

Identify your child’s learning style

Each child with ADHD learns differently. Some prefer silence when studying and work best at a quiet desk in their bedroom. Others prefer a slight buzz in the background, like white noise or soft music playing. Some learn best with movement – rocking on a rocking chair while studying, for instance, or throwing a ball as they define vocabulary words. The key is identifying the style that best suits your child and sticking with it.

Find an optimal study time  

‎Some ADHD children work best immediately after school when they are still in “school mode.” They may feel relieved by completing their assignments and “geting them over with” so they can move onto non-academic activities. Others feel fried by the end of the school day and need a break before starting their homework or studying. For these children, a snack and some physical activity before sitting down to work is more optimal. Many students, especially older ones, work best later in the day, thriving on that post-dinner rush. Generally, however, encouraging your child to plan out and prioritize his work as soon as he comes home can help make sure critical work isn’t overlooked or pushed to the very last minute.

Avoid Distractions

Children with ADHD tend to be easily distracted by almost anything going on around them. To minimize distractions, try to implement household rules during studying time, such as “No TV” or “No Electronics.” You can also build in rewards for earning these banned activities. For instance, if your child completes one hour of focused school work, he can earn10 minutes of electronic time. This reward system may motivate your child to stay on task and complete his school work.

Use Active Studying Techniques

Activing reading strategies can help your ADHD child stay focused and remember the material she is learning. Try a tri-colored strategy for helping her learn material from a text book, rather than simply reading a chapter from start to finish. Before reading, have her peruse the chapter for pictures, captions, headers, and subheaders to give her an overview of the material. Then have her highlight the topic (one, two, or three words fescribing the passage) in blue. Next, she should move through the sections one sub-section at a time, highlighting the main idea of each sub-section in green (what the author is saying about the topic) and the important details in yellow. Once she is done with the chapter, she can create a two-column study guide, writing the topic at the top, main idea of each sub-section on the left, and the important details using bullet points on the right. This technique will help her actively learn the material and effectively plan for an exam.

The rigors of school can be challenging for many ADHD students, as the executive functioning, organizational, and studying demands often feel overwhelming. By implementing these strategies, however, your child can face these challenges head-on and be well on his way to academic success.

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Set your child up for school-year success by getting organized during the summer

Moving from the sun-filled days of summer to the cool, brisk days of fall can bring back-to-school jitters to almost all children. During the summer, planning out tasks, organizing notebooks and backpacks, and turning in completed homework assignments all fall to the back burner. Yet with the start of school just around the corner, these organizational skills will quickly become paramount. Try the five tips below for helping your child become organized for the new school year.

1. Create a Working Notebook and a Filing System

When you embark on your annual school supplies shopping trip, ‎help your child select a working notebook, or a notebook he will take to school with him on a regular basis. The working notebook should include only essential papers he needs to carry with him daily. To create an at-home organizational system, he should also pick out an accordion file which will stay at home for filing. Inside the file, he should label three tabs for each class: homework, notes, and tests/quizzes (for example: English homework, English notes, English tests/quizzes; math homework, math notes, etc.). Then he should designate one day per week to be his “clean out my working notebook” day. On this ‎day, he will remove any papers from his working notebook that he doesn’t absolutely need to be carrying with him and file them into the correct section of his accordion file. Those at-home papers can later be used to study for tests and quizzes.

2. Set Up (and Maintain) a Planner

Setting up and maintaining an organized planner can help students develop strong homework and time management skills. If your child’s school doesn’t provide one, purchase a planner that has a large amount of space for each day of the week. Then have your child create five columns for each day, labeled as follows: Assignment (where she writes down the assignment while in school), ET (estimated time, or how much time she thinks it will take to complete the assignment), O (order, or the order in which she wants to do the assignments), AT (actual time, or the actual time it took to complete the assignment), and D (done, which she checks off once the assignment is done and put away in the right place to be turned in). If need be, offer your child an incentive at the end of each week for following through on this strategy each day. Practicing this strategy will help your child learn to manage her time and homework more effectively.

3. Designate a Color for Each Subject

Have your child designate a specific color for each subject and maintain consistency with that color for all notebooks, folders, and assignments. For example, he might designate green for science. He should then use a green folder and notebook for science, and perhaps even highlight all science assignments in his planner using a green highlighter. He could use green note cards to study for exams. Math might be blue, English purple, and so on.

4. Time Management: Estimated Time vs. Actual Time 

For all school (and some non-school) assignments, have your child estimate ‎how much time she thinks a given task will take, and then compare it to the actual time it takes. While this technique is integrated into the planner system, it can be applied more generally.  For example, she might estimate that it will take her 30 minutes to complete a math worksheet (ET). She should then time herself to see how long it actually takes and record the AT (actual time). This strategy can be applied to non-school tasks, including cleaning her room, taking out the garbage, eating breakfast, making her bed, and so on.

5. Introduce a Highlighting and Note-Taking Strategy 

Introduce a highlighting and note-taking strategy before the school year begins so your child can apply this strategy as soon as he starts receiving assignments. When he reads, even if it’s a newspaper article, have him highlight the topic (one, two, or three words describing the passage) in blue, main idea (what the author is saying about the topic) in green, and important details (important information describing the main idea) in yellow. Then he can create a two-column note-taking diagram by writing the topic on the top, main ideas (in his own words) in the left column, and important details (also in his own words) in the right column.

Try spending some time at the tail-end of summer helping your child set up organizational systems for the new school year. In doing so, he will start the year off on a positive note and will be well on his way to academic success!

The post 5 Tips For Organizing Your Child For The New School Year appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Rather than dragging out the process into the late hours of the night, here are some strategies you can try to make homework time shorter and easier.

Here are some quick and easy ideas:

1. ‎Use a planner, and use it well. Many schools use online portals for posting assignments and due dates.

However, putting all assignments, projects, and upcoming exam dates into one planner helps students see the big picture. Here’s a strategy to try: while at school, your child should write down each assignment. When he gets home and begins his homework, he should start by estimating how much time he thinks it will take to complete each assignment (and write the ET, or estimated time, for each task).

Next, he should order the assignments based on the ones he wants to complete first, second, etc., by writing the appropriate number next to the assignment. Finally, your child can begin tackling the assignments in that order (it is typically better to complete the longer, more challenging ones first). Once each assignment is complete he should write down the AT, or actual time the assignment took to complete.

When the assignments are done and put away in the appropriate place to be turned it, he should cross out the assignment or put an X next to it.

2. Power down electronics. While students think they‎ may need their computers or tablets for completing their assignments, with social media, news flashes, text messages, emails, and the like, devices can often be more of a distraction than helpful tools for getting homework done quickly. Encourage your child to power them off or put them in another room, and only use them when absolutely necessary.

3. Get a little exercise! Before beginning any homework, try having your child do some jumping jacks, dance to music, or even do a few push-ups.

These types of physical exercises will help increase alertness and ‎focus, and will help students tackle homework in a more efficient manner. While some students are fine starting their work right after school, others benefit from this type of physical activity before beginning their school work.

4. Find a quiet area to work. Some students might prefer a desk in their room, while others may use a table in an office space or play room. Any of these choices work fine, as long as they are in a quiet area with minimal noise.

5. Integrate break times. Students can divide their homework assignments into segments and reward themselves with a break after each segment is complete. For instance, they might start with their first assignment: two pages of math homework. Once that is complete, they can give themselves a five minute break for a snack or quick email check. Set a timer to make sure the break doesn’t extend beyond the allotted time. Students can motivate themselves by creating incentives with “fun” break ideas.

6. Get organized! Rather than carrying an endlessly growing stack of papers inside notebooks, students can stick with one working notebook that they clean out one day per week (on their “clean out my working notebook” day). On that day, have them clean out papers they don’t absolutely need to be carrying and file them in an accordion file.

I suggest three sections for each class: homework, notes, and tests and quizzes. They can also include a homework section in their working notebook, containing a homework inbox and outbox. Alternatively, students can use one colored folder for ‎each subject, or create an organizational system that works for them and jives with their school’s preferred system.

Implementing these strategies will help your child become more focused, organized, and efficient – all of which will lead to completing homework in a faster and more effective manner.

The post Tips for Shortening Homework Time appeared first on EBL Coaching.

The Assignment Book

We often hear complaints from students about not wanting to use a planner since their assignments are posted online or they can “easily” remember them without writing anything down. Yet even if assignments are posted online, students should still actively use an assignment book so that their entire agenda is written in one place and they can see the “big picture” of all that needs to get done. Ideally, your child should use a “one sheet per day assignment book” with ample space to write down each assignment.

During the school day, encourage your child to write down assignments as they are given out. Then, when she gets home that afternoon, have her look at all of her assignments and predict how long she thinks each one will take. She should write down the ET (Estimated Time) next to each assignment and, based on these times, decide which ones she will do first, second, third, etc., and complete them in that order. Finally, after she has completed each assignment and put it in the right place to be turned in, she should cross it off and write the AT (actual time it look to complete). This strategy will help students develop time management, homework management, and planning skills.

The Binder

Some students might prefer using an open-style three-ring binder for carrying papers to and from school. Yet this kind of binder can lead to disaster (namely the disappearance of critical papers and assignments), particularly for those who are not naturally organized. Rather than using a completely open 3-ring binder, purchase a fully enclosed binder for your child that has a zipper and a handle. With this style binder, if your child drops it, nothing will spill out.

Inside the binder, purchase a colored folder containing two pockets for each subject that is made of hard plastic, not flimsy paper. ‎Create a white label with the subject name on it to stick on the outside of each folder. Inside the folder, on the left side, attach a sticker labeled “to be done” and on the right side, attach one labeled “completed/returned‎.”

In the front portion of your child’s binder, attach two monthly calendar sheets so‎ that your child can see all upcoming long-term assignments. The current month should be placed on top, and the next month should be placed underneath. This setup will help him see a global picture of upcoming assignments and tests for the next two months.

The Filing System

Rather than watching an ever-growing mess of papers stack up on your child’s desk or inside his backpack, help him establish an effective at-home filing system. Purchase a filing box for your child that is the size of an egg crate, without a top. Use box board bottom file folders with tabs – one per class, ideally in a color matching that of the subject folders in his binder, and label each tab by subject. ‎ Place plain manila file folders (one for each month of the school year) inside each file folder, so that each box board bottom file folder has its own set of monthly folders.

Designate one day per week as a “clean out my binder” day, where your child cleans out sheets from the right side of each folder in his binder (labeled “completed/returned”). These should be papers that he does not need to be carrying with him on a regular basis, and they should be placed in the proper monthly file, a task that should take roughly 5-15 minutes. When his teacher announces a test, he should pull out all papers from the start of that unit (from the at-home filing system) to use for studying.

Try implementing these strategies at home and your child will soon become more organized, learn effective time management strategies, and become an overall better student. As an added bonus, you’ll find that your life will become easier by not having to micro-manage your child’s school work, an all-out winning scenario.

Written by Dr. Emily Levy, Director of EBL Coaching

Dr. Emily Levy is the founder of EBL Coaching, a tutoring program that specializes in one-on-one home and on-site instruction for students in grades preK-12 in NYC and NJ.  She is also the author of Strategies for Study Success, a study skills workbooks series emphasizing test taking, note taking, reading comprehension, writing, and summarizing strategies, and the Flags and Stars Orton Gillingham student workbook series.  These workbooks are currently used at schools nationwide.

Dr. Levy studied at Brown University and later received her Masters Degree in Special Education and her Doctorate Degree in Education. She has spoken at national and international conferences on research-based methods for teaching students with and without learning disabilities. Dr. Levy is currently the Director of EBL Coaching’s NYC and NJ learning centers.

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