Need help teenage son organize bedroom, please

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My son is entering his teen years, all of his life he has been very disorganized. With him beginning a new era (teen dom) and beginning middle school this Fall, I want to help him become organized. (He is always saying Where is so and so???) I realize this will be a big project since like most Aspies, he doesn't adjust to change very well.

I have tried using labeled bins, bins with photographs of items that will go inside, labeled/photographed bookshelves, and most recently, a locking trunk. Every avenue tried works for 2 weeks then he resumes his old habit again...leaving the item where he drops it.

It is particularly worrisome because he is receiving bad grades for misplaced homework (he has a divider that he labeled himself); developing headaches and sneezing from the odor of nasty, dirty clothes left sitting where ever in his room.

Your help with this matter is greatly appreciated!

Lynn

I am also disorganized. Sometimes I can get girls from college to help me clean my room, however. (I lure them in with my good looks )

Have you tried getting him a palmpilot and a laptop? I have found these to be essential tools for organization. I now keep everything on the computer. Paper is so last century. ALthough, when I do have paper, there is less of it, so I can organize it better.

We use a computer too. My son e-mails assignments to the teachers as soon as he finishes...otherwise they never get turned in. I've heard of others faxing in work. We've also had him redo assignements over and over until turned in and weekly emails to the teachers to make sure all is current. My older son had an aide help him during homeroom to make sure he was current.

My son wants to be neat but can't quite pull it off yet. We make sure his room is picked up each night before "free time" (vidoe games in his case). My son is 12 years old and its like organization is a totally foreign concept. He still needs directions each night. He is slowly, slowly learning how to pick up his messes.

One of my older son's friends needs to get signatures from each of his teachers, each day, signing off that all is current or what is not current. The threat that we would do that finally got that son to keep track of things better. It seems to be a pretty common battle.

BeeBee

we went through quite a time over the last few years with our son's total lack of organization....we finally ended up with him having a homework folder which he turned in at the beginning of the day. he goes through periods of time when he's really neat, and other periods of time when he's incredibly messy....we've tried so many different ways to get him to stay organized, adn he too will do good for a week or two and then it's back to old habits...............can't even begin to think of getting him a cell phone or palm pilot as he'd lose them both. as of late, he's been staying more organized...don't know what that's about, but happy that he seems to be self-motivated.

Perhaps reminding him of the rules for organization in the room, reminding him WHEN he needs to clean the room, but also making sure he has sufficient time to clean it--talking to him about when he plans to clean it, etc. If your son is really into routine, perhaps even set specific times of the week when he is to clean his room (let him pick the times). When I was a little kid and had a lot of AS traits, I actually found my room was the cleanest in my life, because I religiously cleaned my room every Sunday Morning at 10 AM (when my favorite radio station would put on its countdown show, which I listened to as I cleaned).

Another important thing is to not let a messy room get out of control. I have a very small room in my apartment at school and I find that actually kinda helps because my room will go from being clean to being so messy I can't even function in it in a matter of 4 or 5 days, so I am prompted to clean my room 2 or 3 times a week, so my room won't get to that point. Perhaps make sure any scheduled time for him to clean the room should be made frequent enough to make sure such a cleaning can be done in under an hour, and not be an all-day affair.

And of course, with homework, perhaps checking with him before he goes to bed/when he gets up that his homework is indeed in his backpack could make sure that base at least gets covered.

Best of luck and hope this helps!