Poor organization was a nightmare for me in middle and high school.
I was lucky to have very tolerant teachers. They knew I was conscientious and knew I knew the material, and it was generally easier to let me hunt for it and turn it in late than to watch me have combination meltdowns and panic attacks if I couldn't hunt up or redo whatever I'd lost.
I COULD NOT make up things at the last minute. I COULD NOT take tests if I had not studied, because I COULD NOT focus past my anxiety. I COULD pull all-nighters and frequently did...
...and that's probably why I had my first nervous breakdown in, like, 8th grade.
The following things would have been (or have been, in adult life) helpful (and are often recommended for ADHD/ASD kids): Large wall-sized calendar (with at least 2x2 inch squares-- learned that from my mamaw, who hid dementia for YEARS). Write EVERYTHING on it.
Daily planner, with assignments written in for the day (Tonight I Must), week (In The Next Seven Days I Must Finish), and month (Every SomeDay From X:XX to Y:YY I Have Committed To)-- this is so important, get extra time to write in the damn thing written into an IEP if you have to. Copy stuff from the planner to the calendar, from the calendar to the planner, and check them against each other before bedtime. If I did this religiously, I'd never miss an appointment-- but I get complacent and, next thing I know, I'm rescheduling that after-school optometrists' appointment that it took six weeks to get.
Carry a 3-ring binder-- one HUGE one, or two medium-sized ones. In one goes your planner and an INDIVIDUAL FOLDER FOR EACH AND EVERY CLASS. In the other go notebooks, or looseleaf paper with subject dividers-- again, for EACH AND EVERY CLASS. Color-coded, if necessary. One is for carrying around papers, the other for taking and keeping notes (Though I prefer the One Giant Binder System).
Clean out the locker/binder/bookbag/whatever EVERY SINGLE FRIDAY-- Don't swear you'll do it Saturday, don't figure missing a week won't hurt. Seriously-- I did not learn to do this, and now it's a WHOLE FILING CABINET, a WALK-IN CLOSET, THREE SIX-FOOT BOOKSHELVES, and a MINIVAN. START NOW!! !!
Have some structure and order in the day, even after school. This came naturally to me because I'm a freakin' Aspie and I LOVE my routines. Come home, do something you want to do for about an hour, and then start on your homework. Do it for about an hour, then take a break. Do something physical-- Wii games, chores, go outside, clean your room. As soon as the chore is done or you're ready (no more than about half an hour), get back to the homework. Do it for about an hour.
A good bit of the time, this will have it done. Then you PUT IT IN THE BINDER, IN THE FOLDER WHERE IT GOES. You DO NOT stuff it in your backpack, in your text book, in your coat pocket, on your desk, or anywhere else. The binder goes BACK IN YOUR BACKPACK.
And THEN you eat dinner, have fun, hang out with friends, whatever it is you've been barely holding yourself back from doing all evening. ONLY then.
Unless, of course, you've got a PROJECT under the TO DO THIS WEEK heading. If something big is due in the next seven days, WORK ON IT. I realize it sucks-- my ADHD cousin and I both pretty much HAD to do everything at the last minute (or anyway thought we did). Life would have been easier for both of us-- she would have done better work, and I would have had many fewer panic attacks and sleepless nights-- if both of us had implemented a system like this.
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"Alas, our dried voices when we whisper together are quiet and meaningless, as wind in dry grass, or rats' feet over broken glass in our dry cellar." --TS Eliot, "The Hollow Men"
01 Dec 2013, 10:28 pm
