Students with ADHD typically have many strengths. They are often very bright and excel at thinking critically and solving complex problems. However, they tend to struggle significantly with their executive functioning skills, including planning, organization, time management, and task initiation. As students progress through school, these executive functioning skills become increasingly important. Furthermore, weak executive functioning skills can negatively affect one’s self-esteem. Help your child with ADHD develop stronger executive functioning skills with the ideas detailed below.

Time Management Technique

Time management is often a significant area of struggle for students with ADHD. They may underestimate how long a task might take to complete or procrastinate starting their work, thinking they have more time to complete it than they actually do. Help your child develop stronger time management skills with the Estimated Time versus Actual Time strategy. To use this technique, ask your child to predict how long they think it will take to complete a task, such as a math worksheet, and have them write down the ET, or estimated time. Then tell them to keep track of the actual time it takes to complete the assignment and note the AT, or actual time it took. They will likely notice that there is a big discrepancy between the ET and AT when they begin using this strategy, especially if they have weak time management skills, but the more they practice this strategy, the more realistic they will become with their time, and the more their time management skills will improve.

Create an Organized Space

Students with ADHD should set up an organized study space to use consistently for completing their school work. This could be a desk in their bedroom or even a table in a common space, like a kitchen or dining room. Make sure this area is fully stocked with all of the supplies your child may need for completing their work, including pens, pencils, paper, scissors, highlighters, and so on. If the supplies start to run low, make sure you or your child refills them so they don’t wander around your home searching for supplies mid-homework session. If your child works in a common area, you may want to create a portable supplies bucket containing the supplies they need for completing their work and fill it on a regular basis as needed. It is important to create consistency; your child should use this same study space on a daily basis and it should always be organized with the school supplies they need for completing their work.

Set a Study Time

Along with creating an organized study space, your child should also designate a consistent time for completing their school work. This could be right after school, after a snack or physical activity break, or even later in the day. Each student is different and tends to work best at a different time of day. Try to encourage your child to consistently complete their work at this pre-set time as regularly as they can. Of course, there will be some days when they may have after school activities, games, or other obligations that may alter this time, but the more consistent they can be with their study time, the better.

Take Breaks

To strengthen focusing skills and help avoid distractions, your child should build in regular study breaks. They may want to try an approach like the Pomodoro Method, where they set a timer for 25 minutes and focus on their work for that time period without any distractions. At the end of the 25 minutes, they can take a 5 minute break and do any activity they choose. Then they should do that same cycle again three times – 25 minutes of work followed by a 5 minute break. Once they have completed three of these cycles, they can take a longer 30 minute break. Feel free to adjust these times slightly based on what suits your child best.

Create Organizational Systems

Students with ADHD benefit from organizational systems. Try setting up a color-coded system to help your child organize their materials for each class. For instance, they may designate blue for math, green for science, yellow for English, and so on. They should create a folder for each subject in the selected color. They can even highlight assignments in their assignment book (which they should also use regularly!) in the appropriate color for that subject. Additionally, you may want to help your child create checklists for items they need to remember to bring to school and take home from school on a daily basis. The more systematic and organized the approach is, the better.

Executive functioning skills can affect all aspects of school and life. Students with weak executive functioning skills often go on to struggle in the workplace and with personal relationships. The younger students can learn executive functioning strategies, the better off they will be as they move through life. Try these strategies with your child to help them thrive academically as the workload at school and the demands of life continue to increase.

EBL Coaching offers one-on-one in person and virtual tutoring for students in grades pre-K-12 with specialized learning needs. They use research-based, multi-sensory techniques, including the Orton Gillingham method, to develop students’ reading, writing, math, note taking, test taking, and executive functioning skills. Each student is evaluated and then receives an individualized learning plan to address their specific academic needs. Learn more at http://www.eblcoaching.com/. Dr. Emily Levy, Founder & Director, is happy to hear from anyone who is in need of help for their child. You may reach her through her website.

The post How to Improve Your Child’s Executive Functioning Skills appeared first on EBL Coaching.

ADHD tutors can teach your child strategies to develop these executive functioning skills and show them how to apply the strategies to their relevant schoolwork. Let’s look at some of these strategies:

How Do ADHD Tutors Teach Time Management Skills?

Students with ADHD tend to struggle with time management. They are often late, wait until the last minute to complete tasks, or have an unrealistic sense of how long an assignment will take to complete. To help develop this skill, an ADHD tutor can teach students to differentiate between the ET, or estimated time (how long they think it will take to complete a task) and compare it to the AT, or actual time it takes to complete the task. When students with ADHD first use this strategy, there is often a big gap between the ET and AT since they often over or underestimate how long they think it will take to complete the task. However, the more they practice this strategy, the more realistic they will become with timing and the more the ET and AT times will start to merge. At our NYC and NJ tutoring centers, students can learn concrete strategies to help them build stronger time management skills.

You can read more time management strategies at Time Management Tips For Kids With ADHD – EBL Coaching.

How Can ADHD Tutoring Improve Organization?

Students with ADHD can be very disorganized. Papers are often spread out on their desk, their backpack is a mess, and their notebooks and binders are often stuffed with papers they don’t need to be carrying with them. Their digital files may be completely disorganized as well. To help with these challenges, ADHD tutors can teach students a 3-tier organization system, as follows:

• Tier 1 is a working notebook, or the binder or notebook they carry to school with them on a regular basis. It should only contain materials they absolutely need to be carrying with them, and they should designate one day per week as their “clean out my working notebook day”. On this day, the student should remove papers and materials they don’t absolutely need to be carrying with them and file them into the appropriate section of their accordion file, or tier 2.
• Tier 2 is an accordion file that should be divided into three sections for every class: homework, notes, and tests/quizzes.
• Finally, if the student completed a project or wrote a paper they want to save for the long run, they should put it in a filing drawer, which is tier 3.

Since many students now use computers in lieu of papers, ADHD tutors can also help students organize their online assignments into appropriate digital files and teach them to use calendars and set reminders for upcoming due dates. At our NJ and NYC tutoring centers, students receive individualized organizational skills support tailored to their individual needs.

Learn more about these types of strategies at How to Build Executive Functioning Skills With Homework – EBL Coaching.

How Does ADHD Tutoring Help with Writing?

Students with ADHD often struggle to organize their ideas and express them effectively when writing. They might have interesting, creative ideas, but need help with the writing process. ADHD tutors can help students start the writing process by teaching them to brainstorm their ideas. This might look like a web diagram with the topic in the middle and the details and supporting details ideas branching out of it. It could also be in list form or could be an outline. The key is learning to brainstorm before writing. Then an ADHD tutor can teach the student to translate their brainstorm diagram into an organized, structured writing piece. Finally, an ADHD tutor should teach the student to self-check their writing before completing it as a last step. One checklist they may use is CTOPS, which stands for:

• Capitalization
• Tense
• Organization
• Punctuation
• Spelling.

At our NJ and NYC tutoring locations, students can receive specialized writing tutoring to learn tools for expressing their thoughts effectively when writing.
Students with ADHD are often very bright and have many strengths. However, they can struggle in school due to weak organization and executive functioning skills. An effective ADHD tutoring program can teach students concrete strategies for developing these skills and can help students achieve confidence and success in school. If your child is struggling with their executive functioning skills, contact us at www.eblcoaching.com to see how we can help your child with one-on-one in person or virtual ADHD tutoring.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if my child needs ADHD tutoring?
If your child is struggling with their executive functioning skills, including task initiation, organization, planning, note taking, or organizational skills, they will likely benefit from ADHD tutoring. Regardless of whether they have an ADHD diagnosis, they can still benefit tremendously from learning executive functioning strategies through ADHD coaching at our NJ or NYC tutoring locations.

Can ADHD tutoring help even if my child is already on medication?
Yes, absolutely. Many students who receive ADHD coaching are on medication. Medication can be helpful for some students, but most still need to learn strategies to improve their executive functioning skills, including organization, planning, time management, and other related skills.

Does ADHD tutoring improve grades?
Yes, we find that many students with ADHD are bright and capable of excelling academically. However, weak executive functioning skills can negatively affect their ability to obtain strong grades. With ADHD tutoring, however, they can learn concrete executive functioning strategies and how to apply them to their relevant schoolwork, which can ultimately help them improve their grades.

Other Related Blogs:
Wondering if Your Child Has ADHD? – EBL Coaching
Expert Tips on Managing Remote School for Your Child with ADHD – EBL Coaching

Additional Resources:
ADHD: Building Academic Success | LD OnLineskillsplanningspellingtime
Parenting a Child with ADHD | CHADD.org

The post Does Your Child Need ADHD Tutoring? appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Date published: 7/28/23

Listen to the full podcast here

In this podcast, Dr. Levy discusses nonverbal learning disabilities and strategies that can help students with NVLD thrive in school. 

Individuals with nonverbal learning disabilities typically have many strengths but also exhibit academic challenges. For instance, they may have difficulty with reading comprehension, especially inferencing, and understanding abstract language. They often have trouble breaking down and solving math word problems, and may struggle with executive functioning skills, such as planning, time management, task initiation, and prioritization. Learning strategies for developing these areas of weakness can help students with nonverbal learning disabilities perform well in school.

To build their reading comprehension skills, it is helpful to teach students with nonverbal learning disabilities to be active, rather than passive readers. For instance, instead of asking them to simply read a passage and answer reading comprehension questions, it may be helpful to teach them a highlighting strategy for active reading. To do so, explain to them that when we read, there are three elements to look for: the topic, which is one, two, or three words describing the passage; the main idea, which is what the author is saying about the topic; and the important details, or salient information describing the main idea. They should highlight the topic in blue, the main idea in green, and the important details in yellow. Explain that they should read the passage in full one time, then go back through the passage and highlight the topic, main idea, and important details using the corresponding colors. We teach students this strategy and many others in our special education tutoring programs.

To develop their math word problem solving skills, students with nonverbal learning disabilities may benefit from the COINS strategy, which teaches them to move from language to arithmetic and back to language. To use this strategy, they should read the word problem, then circle the relevant information (C), identify the operations(s) to use (O), write down the relevant information (I), create a number sentence (N), and then write the solution as a full sentence in their own words (S).

For executive functioning, students with nonverbal learning disabilities may benefit from concrete strategies and executive functioning coaching to build their organization, planning, time management, task initiation, and similar skills – along with how to apply these strategies to their relevant schoolwork. Read more about building stronger executive functioning skills at How to Build Executive Functioning Skills With Homework – EBL Coaching.

Students with nonverbal learning disabilities have the potential to do very well in school. With these strategies for building their reading comprehension, math word problem solving, and executive functioning skills, they will be well on their way to academic success. 

Read more at Nonverbal Learning Disorder | Psychology Today.

The post Dr. Emily Levy on the Jennifer Purcell Interview Podcast: Strategies for Students with Nonverbal Learning Disabilities appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Date published: 2/15/23

Listen to the full podcast here

In this podcast, Dr. Levy discusses ways parents can advocate for their special education child to help them thrive in school.

Special education students often have many gifts, but they also have unique and individual needs. Some thrive in math but struggle with reading and writing. Others have strong academic skills but have difficulty with their executive functioning skills, including organization, planning, prioritizing, and time management. Students might have autism, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, ADHD, or a combination of diagnoses. As a parent, it is important that you consistently advocate for your child, year after year.

Many different services and accommodations are available to special education students based on their needs, as defined by their IEP or 504 plan. Students may qualify for extra time, preferential seating, a scribe, speech therapy, occupational therapy, pull-out special education tutoring, or other related services. You might find that your child is thriving in school one year with a certain set of services and accommodations only to find that the following year – or even partially through the current school year – their performance begins to sink. 

As a parent, you should always be advocating for your child. At the beginning of the school year, schedule a meeting with your child’s teacher and any other service providers. Tell them about your child and what has or hasn’t worked in the past and try to make sure they read your child’s evaluation reports, IEPs, or 504 plans if available. Then stay in touch with them throughout the school year. Schedule periodic calls or meetings; don’t wait until the end of the school year to find out about any struggles or challenges. Be active in constantly evaluating and reevaluating the services and support your child is receiving to make sure they are consistently getting what they need. Learn more about strategies for helping your special education child at Strategies For Your Child with a Learning Disability or ADHD – EBL Coaching.

With the right support, students with special education needs have the potential to thrive academically.

Read more at Navigating the special education process | LD OnLine.

The post Dr. Emily Levy on the My Child Will Thrive Podcast: Tips for Advocating for Your Special Needs Child appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Does your child struggle at school? Do they have difficulty sounding out new words when reading, breaking down math word problems, or expressing their thoughts on paper when writing? It can be difficult to watch your child struggle. Help your child improve their academic skills with the ideas detailed below.

Be your child’s advocate

If you notice your child is struggling, contact their teacher and set up a time to discuss what you are seeing at home. Find out if the teacher is noticing the same challenges (or others) and if so, ask for specifics. Does your child have trouble staying focused? Has the teacher noticed difficulty with reading, writing, and/or math? Try to get as much feedback as possible, and then maintain regular communication with the teacher to discuss any changes or improvements. If your child continues to struggle, you may want to find out what other resources, including extra help or tutoring, the school offers. If these challenges persist, you might want to request a full evaluation to determine if there are any learning disabilities such as dyslexia, ADHD, executive functioning deficits, or other challenges that may require more support.

Build stronger study skills

Help your child build stronger time management, organization, planning, and overall executive functioning skills. To build time management skills, for example, teach your child to estimate how long they think a task will take to complete (and write down the ET, or estimated time) then compare it to the actual amount of time the task took to complete (and write the AT, or actual time). In the beginning, there is often a large discrepancy between the ET and AT, but the more your child practices this strategy, the better their time management skills will become. You can also help your child set up a 3-tier organizational system for filing papers they don’t need to be carrying with them on a regular basis. To do so, select one day per week to be the “clean out my notebook day” and file away any old papers into an accordion file divided into 3 sections for each class: homework, notes, and tests/quizzes. If it’s challenging for you to help your child build these executive functioning skills, you may want to consider hiring an executive functioning coach.

Try using a multisensory approach

Research tells us that using a multisensory approach to help struggling learners is the way to go! For young children who are learning to read and write, try having them practice writing letters in colored sand or sugar. To do so, pour sand or sugar on a cookie tray and have them trace each letter with their finger, while saying the formation aloud, like “around, up, and down” for lowercase a, or “down, up, and around” for lowercase p. For older students, help them build their reading comprehension skills by teaching them to read a passage and then highlight the topic (1, 2, or 3 words describing the passage) in blue, the main idea (what the author is saying about the passage) in green, and the important details in yellow. The more multisensory instruction you can provide, the better!

Hire a tutor

If your child continues to struggle despite your help at home, you may want to consider hiring a tutor. There are various types of tutors who specialize in different areas; for instance if your child struggles with reading, you may want to consider Orton Gillingham tutoring. The Orton Gillingham approach can do wonders in helping your child build stronger decoding and spelling skills. If they struggle with math, you may want to consider a tutor who can use a multisensory approach and lots of manipulatives to build their math skills, or you might also consider a writing tutor or executive functioning coach. The more specialized the tutoring can be, the better!

It can be challenging to watch your child struggle in school. Yet if you advocate for them, help them at home, and possibly consider hiring a tutor, you can help them achieve academic success as they progress through school.

The post How to Help Your Struggling Learner appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Learning at home can be difficult for many students. Yet for children with ADHD, virtual schooling has an additional set of challenges. Those with ADHD typically have difficulty with focus, impulsively, hyperactivity, and executive functioning skills, including planning, time management, organization, and task initiation. Learning virtually can exacerbate these challenges, as this modality requires students to be more independent and self-guided, without the consistent support of an in-person teacher. Try the following strategies to help your child with ADHD thrive with online schooling:

Psst…Check out Expert Tips on COVID Back Soreness and Pain in Kids

Create a Daily Schedule
Kids with ADHD benefit from routines, so help your child create a daily at-home learning routine with a visual schedule. To do so, have your child draw a visual diagram on a large poster board detailing each segment of the day. For instance, the top might say “7 am: wake up” inside a long rectangular bubble. Underneath it, he might write “7:45-8:15 am: eat breakfast,” then “8:15-10 am: Zoom school,” then “10-10:15 am: snack break,” and so on. ‎Young kids can draw a picture next to each task, while older kids might map out a more linear work plan detailing each subject and the specific times that are allocated for that class. The more structure kids with ADHD have in their days, the better.

Create a School-Like Environment
The transition from a school environment with desks, cubbies, a whiteboard, etc., to a home bedroom or dining room designated for school can be challenging for ADHD students. ‎Help ease this transition by setting up a space that looks as much like your child’s classroom as possible. There should be a clean desk with space for a computer and organized sections for supplies. Pens and pencils should be in a cup holder, folders should be in a designated slot, and extra paper should be in a drawer. Make sure your child has all the supplies they may need for a given day so they don’t become distracted by roaming the house for needed supplies.

Take Movement Breaks
Children with ADHD tend to have difficulty sitting in one spot for an extended period of time. Thus, encourage your child to take movement breaks whenever possible. ‎ If your child’s teacher offers a break from class, encourage them to go outside for a walk or ride their bike. If it’s rainy or the weather is too cold, encourage indoor exercise breaks, such as jumping jacks, push-ups, or sit-ups. This movement will invigorate your child and help them stay on task for larger stretches of time.

Try the Pomodoro Method
If your child doesn’t have a structured day of livestream classes, help him create structure using the Pomodoro Method. ‎With this method, children are asked to stay on a given task for 25 minutes straight with no distractions (one “Pomodoro”), then take a 5-minute break. After 4 successful Pomodoro, they can take a longer break of 20 minutes or more. They should use a timer set for 25 minutes for each Pomodoro segment. You might, for instance, tell your child to work on a spelling worksheet for 25 minutes and set a timer; when the timer goes off, they can take a 5-minute break. This method helps build structure into your child’s day and encourages him to feel successful by making it through these segments and completing the given tasks.

Give Positive Feedback
Help your child stay positive and feel successful by giving positive feedback. Try to be specific, like “You did a great job completing your math assignment without any distractions,” or “I’m very impressed with how you ate breakfast on your own, got dressed, and began your online class independently.” If needed, you can build in small rewards for getting through parts of the day successfully. For instance, if your child completes the segment from breakfast to their first break 1.5 hours later without any distractions, they receive a point. Five points may equal a prize, like a special treat for dessert or a game.

Online learning is the new normal for many children. While this can be a real challenge for kids with ADHD, trying the strategies above can help your child feel more motivated, engaged, and successful in school.

The post Expert Tips on Managing Remote School for Your Child With ADHD appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Completing homework with your child may feel like a daily never-ending battle. Kids with executive functioning challenges in particular often struggle with planning, time management, and completing tasks effectively — all of which play a paramount role in getting through homework. Assignments will only continue to increase in complexity as students progress through school, so it’s important to help your child build stronger homework and overall executive functioning skills. Try some of the ideas detailed below.

Looking for educational games that you can play with your kids from EBL Coaching? Check out Best Learning Games to Play with Your Child

Executive Functioning Skills: Pick a Homework Spot
Some children come home from school, plop their belongings down on any spot that looks clear, and begin to do their homework in that randomly selected place. Sound familiar? Help your child change this haphazard habit and create a regular, consistent homework spot where he will complete their homework every night. Some kids prefer working at a desk in their room, but others find that being in their room presents too many distractions. In that case, a more central area, like a dining room or kitchen table, may work well. Also, assess whether your child works better in a room alone or needs to be in a space where a parent or other adult can be around to answer questions as they arise. The key is maintaining a consistent spot every time homework is done.

Stock Up!
Once an appropriate homework spot is selected, it’s important that it is always fully stocked with supplies that your child may need. These supplies may be in a non-movable spot, like desk drawers, shelves, or cabinets if your child works in a private space. However, a homework crate or bin may work better if your child works in a more centralized location, like a dining room or kitchen table. Just be sure to include all of the supplies your child may need, including pens, pencils, paper, a calculator, scissors, a laptop, and so on.

Set Up a Regular Homework Time
Try to identify the time of day after school when your child works best. Some‎ kids prefer working right after school, when they are still in “work mode” and can plow through their homework efficiently. They may enjoy the feeling of accomplishment they get once their homework is done, and like having free time for the rest of the night. Others need a small break, like a snack or even some athletic activity, before sitting down to do their homework. Yet others are “night owls,” and do best working on their assignments after dinner. Generally speaking, earlier tends to be better since most kids start to tire as the day progresses.

Come Up With a Study Plan
Students with executive functioning challenges often feel overwhelmed with the volume of homework they receive and sometimes don’t even know where to start. To combat this struggle, sit down with your child when they come home from school, open her homework pad (yes, they need one of those!), and help them come up with a study plan. Start by going over each assignment with them and make sure they know what to do for each one. Then have them estimate how long they think each assignment will take‎ (and even write this “ET,” or Estimated Time, in their assignment pad next to each one). Once that is done, have them order their assignments based on the ones they want to do first, second, third, etc. (with 1, 2, 3, and so on). They should then start completing each assignment in that order. They may need to build in breaks, like 10-15 minutes per hour, so they do not feel overwhelmed or burnt out, especially as the volume of work increases.

Try Rewards!
Some kids are motivated by grades; they notice how their hard work and diligence at completing assignments leads to good grades, which makes them feel good. ‎Others, however, are not very motivated by grades and may need an additional motivational tool, like concrete rewards. You can try a simple motivator like if your child finishes their homework they can watch a show or make a phone call. Alternatively, you may need a more detailed rewards program, like earning points to “trade in” for prizes, like video games, screen time, a trip to the movies, etc. Just be sure to involve your child in the prize picking, since they need to feel motivated to earn them.
Creating structure and consistency with your child’s homework time is important for long-term success. Try these ideas with them and they will be well on their way to building stronger executive functioning skills and excelling in school.

The post How to Build Executive Functioning Skills With Homework appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Many kids have difficulty with scheduling enough time to complete tasks without getting overwhelmed; this can be even harder for those with ADHD.

Time management is a real struggle for many elementary, middle, and high school students. Maintaining an organized homework schedule, completing multi-step projects, and systematically studying for exams can be difficult for just about any child. Yet for students with ADHD, managing their time effectively can seem insurmountable. Help your ADHD child develop stronger time management skills with the ideas detailed below.

Time and Sequencing
You can begin working on the concepts of time and sequencing with your child at a young age. Start by discussing her daily routine. Explain the activities she does as a series of steps, like wake up, brush teeth, have breakfast, play, take a bath‎, eat dinner, and go to bed (add in the appropriate ones for your child). You may even want to draw or cut out pictures depicting each activity and have her color the pictures while you discuss what is involved with each one. Then hang them on her door in the proper sequence and discuss various sequencing terms. For example, you might point to “have breakfast”, then ask her to tell you what comes before breakfast and what comes after. Use terms like “first, “next,” “finally,” and so on, all of which will help her gain an understanding of concepts related to sequence and time.

Use a calendar!
Around age six, you may want to introduce your child to a weekly calendar. Use a whiteboard or a large sheet of construction paper to create a calendar for that week. Write the month on top (i.e. October), then mark each of the seven days with the month and day (like 10/22, 10/23, and so on). On the calendar, write in every activity for that week—afterschool classes, birthday parties, dinners, sports games, etc. You may even try designating a different color for each family member. At the end of the day, have each person cross off his or her completed items for that day (that’s always a great feeling of accomplishment!). Getting used to write down obligations and then crossing them off once completed will help solidify important time management and planning concepts.

Clocks
Teach your ADHD child to read and use a clock—preferably analog since it’s easier to see how time passes, but digital works too. Then practice timed activities to give him a sense of the passing of time. For instance, tell him he can play with his Legos for 10 minutes and set a timer for when 10 minutes are up. Likewise, you may tell him he has 12 minutes to eat breakfast, five minutes to make his bed, or eight minutes to complete a worksheet. For each of these tasks, set a timer for the given number of minutes, then discuss the timing when he is done. Did it feel short? Long? Adequate? The more he is exposed to different segments of time, the more he will understand how long tasks take to complete, and the more his sense of time will begin to improve.

Estimated vs. Actual Time
Once you have practiced the ‎activities above with your child, try doing some estimated versus actual time exercises. Estimated time is the time she thinks a task will take to complete, and actual time is how much time it really takes. Have her set the table for dinner, for instance, but before doing so, ask her how long she thinks it will take (perhaps three minutes) and write this ET (estimated time) on a whiteboard. Then start a timer or simply note the time and compare it to the AT (actual time) it takes to complete. Write the AT next to the ET on the white board and discuss the difference. Was the ET much lower than the AT? Or vice versa? The more you practice these types of exercises with your ADHD child, the more realistic she will become with how long tasks actually take to complete.

Maintain a Planner!
It is imperative that students with ADHD maintain a planner. They may think they can “remember” their assignments and can “get them done” without writing them down, but in reality, as they move through school, this “memory” approach becomes almost impossible to sustain. Encourage your child to write down every upcoming test and assignment, along with all other obligations, like sports practices and games, parties, family activities, and so on. Make sure he crosses off completed assignments and encourage him to break down long-terms projects and assignments into steps, then write each step in his planner. He can apply the ET/AT strategy within his planner, estimating how long he thinks each assignment will take and comparing it to the actual time, then order the assignments based on which one he wants to complete first, second, third, and so on.

Time management can be an increasing struggle for ADHD students as they progress through school. Encourage your child to try these strategies and she will become more organized, on top of work, and ready to tackle any task that comes her way.‎

The post Time Management Tips For Kids With ADHD appeared first on EBL Coaching.

At the mid-semester mark (especially in the winter), kids can get disengaged and their grades drop. We have some advice to make sure they stay motivated!

Many students begin the school year on a high note. They are organized, motivated, and ready to tackle any challenge that comes their way. Yet at some point mid-semester, that motivation starts to wane. Tasks take longer than they used to, planning and time management dips, and grades begin to fall. Help your child prevent this mid-semester slump with the ideas detailed below.

Build Stronger Time Management Skills
Some students excel at time management year-round, but others have very little sense of how long a task may take to complete. Help your child become more realistic with his time by teaching him to estimate how long a task may take to finish, then compare it to the actual time it takes. For instance, say he has a sheet of math problems to complete. He might think he will take 15 minutes to finish, which is his estimated time (ET). As he works on it, he should keep an eye on the clock and note how long it takes to complete, which is the actual time (AT). For students with poor time management skills, the ETs and ATs are often very different when they begin practicing this skill. Yet the more they use this technique, the closer these times will become, and the more realistic they will learn to be with their time.

Learn to Prioritize
Some students may feel at times that they have a seemingly insurmountable quantity of work to complete in a short period of time. Homework! Tests! Soccer practice! School play! Dinner with friends! The list can feel endless. It’s important that your child learns to identify which tasks are more important than others, then learn to prioritize them. For example, if she has three exams, an English essay, and a project to complete by the end of a given week, and has also scheduled a dinner with her friends, she should create a list of priorities (i.e. 1. Science test, 2. History test,‎ 3. Math test, 4. Spanish project, 5. Dinner with friends). In doing so, she may quickly realize that she needs to cancel her dinner with friends that week in order to prioritize her schoolwork.

Break studying into chunks
There may be some times during the semester when students feel so overloaded with exams and schoolwork that they may not even know where to begin. This can lead to stress, anxiety, and worries about never being able to complete all of their requirements. To help combat these feelings, help your child break down tasks into smaller steps. For instance, say she has a research project that is due in two weeks. Encourage her to come up with a topic by day two, create an outline by day four, finish her research by day six, write a rough draft by day nine, edit the rough draft by day 12, and come up with a final product by day 14. She should put each of these steps into her homework planner so she has a concrete, manageable plan with individual steps for conquering what may seem like an insurmountable task.

Rewards!
When schoolwork seems endless, building in rewards may help beat the mid-semester blues. Help your child brainstorm some ideas that excite him. Perhaps he likes playing video games; if so, when he completes his English essay, he can take a 15-minute video game break. Maybe he likes certain snacks or treats, and can eat one after one hour of studying. Other rewards may include a movie, phone call break, special meal, or the like. Infusing a special reward to look forward to can ease the stress of long nights of studying.

Meditate
If all else fails and your child stills feels stressed, encourage her to try meditating. For even five short minutes, she can lie flat or sit in a comfortable position. Teach her to breathe in through her nose for four counts, hold her breath for four counts, then breathe out for four counts. Have her repeat this process over and over for five minutes (or longer), letting any thoughts that may pop in pass, without drawing any attention to them.

Many students experience the all-too-common mid-semester slump, which can leave them feeling anxious and stressed. Help your child become more motivated with these ideas and she will soon move past this phase and toward academic success.

The post Avoid The Mid-Semester Slump With These Tips appeared first on EBL Coaching.

A new school year has officially started and with it comes many fresh starts: new classrooms, new teachers, new books, and perhaps even new friends. Some students, however, carry with them old habits of losing papers, forgetting important books, and neglecting to turn in their work. Help your child create a stronger back-to-school routine and avoid these organizational woes with the ideas detailed below.

Establish a Homework Routine
Setting up a regular homework routine at the start of the school year is a key component of organizational success. Some children enjoy completing their homework as soon as they get home, to “get it over with” and move on to more “fun” activities. Others need a small snack and are then ready to work, while many kids need a few hours to fully wind down before they are ready to work again. The key is to help your child determine a routine that works for him, then keep it consistent. Do what you can to help him stick with this routine. For instance, if he prefers a small snack before getting to work, try to have that snack ready for him as soon as he walks in the door. If he prefers to eat dinner before working, aim to have dinner ready at the same time each day. Consistency is key, as it will ultimately help him maintain his homework routine.

Set Up a Study Area
Help your child to create a clean, well-organized study area where she completes her homework on a regular basis. This could be a desk in her bedroom, the kitchen table, a study desk in another room, or the like. This study area should be stocked with all the supplies she may need to complete her work – pens, pencils, loose leaf paper, highlighters, a sharpener, and so on. Help her organize the supplies into labeled containers or sections within drawers so that every item has a home. As the supplies quantities dwindle, be sure to refill them right away to avoid any unnecessary distractions in trying to look for these items.

Maintain an Organized Assignment Book
Many students, especially those with executive functioning challenges, think they can remember all of their homework assignments and feel no need to write them down. Others use an assignment book only sparingly. Yet as students move through school and the workload increases, it becomes imperative that they learn to write down their assignments on a regular basis. Help your child develop stronger homework management skills and avoid missing assignments with this strategy: in his assignment book, he should create five columns for each day: ET (estimated time), AT (actual time), O (Order), D (Done), and Assignments (which should be the widest column). When he is at school, the only place where he should write down his assignments is in the assignment column. When he gets home and begins his work, he should start by looking at each assignment and deciding how long he thinks he each one will take – then write the ET, or estimated time, for each one in the ET column. Based on these estimated times, he should decide which assignment he wants to work on first, second, etc., and write the numbers (1,2,3, etc.) in the O column. Once he completes each assignment, he should write the AT, or actual time each one took to complete (usually in the beginning there is a big discrepancy between the ETs and ATs but as he practices this strategy, the times will start to merge as he becomes more realistic with his time). Finally, once the assignment is done *and put in the right place to be turned in* he should place a check mark in the D column. This strategy can help him develop stronger time management, organization, planning, and homework management – skills that are essential for school success.

Learn to Prioritize
As students progress through school, they receive an increasing amount of assignments and projects. Help your child manage this rising workload by teaching her to prioritize and organize her assignments. For instance, a project that consists of researching, creating note cards, outlining, writing, and self-editing can seem overwhelming at first. To help ease her anxiety, look at the assignment with her and help her break down the large project into smaller, more manageable steps. Then assign a due date to each step and have her enter them into her assignment book with completion dates connected to each one. In doing so, she will feel calmer and more in control of her workload, and will feel successful as she completes each step.

At Home Organizational System
As the school year progresses, the quantity of papers students receive seems to multiply, and many students leave this growing pile of (often crumbled) papers inside their backpacks or stuffed into their notebooks. Help your child develop an effective filing system to avoid this overload of papers. Try this 2-tier system: Tier 1 is his active note book, or the note book he carries to school with him on a regular basis. Tier 2 is an accordian file that stays at home and consists of three sections for every class: homework, notes, and tests/quizzes (math homework, math notes, math test/quizzes; science homework, science notes, etc.). He should designate once day per week to be his “clean out my active notebook day,” where he goes through his active notebook and removes any papers he doesn’t absolutely need to be carrying with him on a regular basis. He should file them into the appropriate section of his accordion file. Then, as quizzes or tests come up at a later date, he will know precisely where to find these important papers. As a result, he will be more organized, empowered, and in control of his paperload.

‎Starting a new school year can feel overwhelming for some students. Yet with these back-to-school ideas, your child will start the year feeling organized, confident, and ready for success.

The post How to Help Your Child Establish a Homework Routine appeared first on EBL Coaching.