ADHD: Establishing Routines
In this article, you will find:
Visual cues
Additional Visual CuesIn many households, "trespassing" is the basis for a lot of arguments. Siblings invade each other's space and take things without first asking permission. What belongs to you, the parents, belongs to everyone. These infractions don't include the times when children get into things that are potentially dangerous. This is another opportunity to use visual cues. Colored dots (available at office supply stores) are perfect for color coding items to show ownership. Use red and green dots to mark areas or rooms that are either okay to enter (green) or are off limits (red). Put red dots on cabinets that hold "you need permission" or "these aren't yours" items. Label free-access cabinets and closets with green dots.
Quick Tip
Use red and green colored dots (available at office supply stores) to mark areas or rooms that are either okay to enter (green) or are off limits (red). This is especially useful for young children.
Labeled or color-coded milk crates can be the basis for organizing and marking ownership of possessions. A milk crate or carton in the front closet is the perfect place for shoes. Use a set of crates to hold different items--shoes in red, hats in blue, gloves in green. Their presence reminds everyone of the proper place to drop their things. (If all shoes are left there when family members come home, the box limits the scope of that last-minute, mad search for missing shoes.) Alternatively, colored crates can distinguish who owns what--Tommy's things in blue, Joe's in green.
Quick Tip
Use different colored milk crates in the front closet to organize or mark ownership of personal possessions.
Quick Tip
Using a milk crate, carton, or box in the front closet or by the front door to store all shoes eliminates that last-minute, frantic search for missing shoes.
Letter boxes on the homework desk labeled "finished" and "questions for later" act as visual cues that improve both organization and materials management. Completed work goes directly in the "finished" box rather than being shuffled (and lost forever) among other papers for later placement in a homework file or a student's notebook. The "questions" box allows a student to move on to something else rather than get up to seek help or sit and do nothing until assistance is offered. A child who needs a great deal of adult support will rarely get back on task once he's up and wandering the house.
Quick Tip
Use letter boxes labeled "finished" and "questions for later" for your child's homework. Completed work can be transferred later into the child's notebook or file folder for transport to school.
Of course, these visual prompts are only as successful as your support for their use. If you don't reinforce your child's use of the tools, it probably won't happen.