Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources planner/homework support for EF deficits

I found this online and am curious if anyone has used it or something like it with EF challenged children? It looks really useful:

http://www.homework-organizer.com

I find the sample pages (and the whole website) very visually and spatially cluttered. (Seriously, if I felt they really knew the needs of people with EF issues, that website layout would be better.)

As a very practical issue, the weekly pages only give space for 6 classes and not much space to write in them. My kids use a full size planner and prefer ones without cluttered space on the margins ("helpful study tips!" "Write your spelling list here!", etc) because it makes to space to write smaller.

This is the one my kids use when not forced to use a school-mandated cluttered one: http://www.amazon.com/Roaring-Sprin...&keywords=Student+Plan+-+Roaring+Springs

The only thing that's really missing is the "what to bring home" icons to circle. I'd probably find a work around.

Annually, I wistfully search for the planners *I* used in high school. It was perfect, and had a more sturdy cover so it wasn't falling off after three weeks of backpack abuse. It was laid out rotated from most planners nowadays, with the subjects across the top, and days of the week going down the side. This laid out the space better for 8-class schedules.

But yes, in answer to your general question, a planner is great (indeed, necessary!) for EF challenged kids, but only if they learn to use it. Someone needs to help them learn to use it effectively and to develop the habits of relying on it.

This can be support from a special ed teacher at the end of the day (let's check your planner and make sure you bring home everything you need)-- but ideally it also requires buy-in from every teacher.

DS has had the requirement that each teacher inspect and sign what's written in his planner at the end of each class, so that he writes down the whole assignment and everyone knows what he is responsible for.

This cuts down on a lot of stress, once the child learns to do it. It does require that the teachers cooperate, though.

We got the "teachers initial planner" accommodation in the 504, so at least there is that. I really would like somebody at school to work with him because when I try to discuss the planner, assignments due, long-term planning, organizational issues, etc., you'd think I was speaking a foreign language.

I don't expect DS to manage this on his own or even really understand any of it at this point. I've chunked it out (in my mind, anyhow), and for now, Goal #1 is for DS to complete assignments and not lose them. I am doing everything else and it's overwhelming. He's writing down assignments but he's not using the information. We need to take baby steps--his skills are frankly unbelievably poor, now that I'm paying more attention and not just thinking he's being a pain (and I'm pretty sure medication is doing its job). I don't know if it's possible to have Zero EF but that's where we appear to be, at this time.

I don't know if he will qualify for eval but I sure hope so. He is a full time job, even when he's doing well.

Ha ha ha, I didn't even notice, but you are right! I can't believe how bad our DNA is in this area. I'm sure there are some complementary assets...

Sometimes a simple and inexpensive solution can work well. My eldest's elementary school gave each student a small blank bound notebook for homework assignments.

The kids made entries for each day and the teachers checked each one. It ended up looking something like this (handwriting not as tidy!).

This was a French school, as is evident from the photo, but the method would work as well anywhere.

One of my kids has what I'd call a straightforward EF issue. She's grade skipped and very young anyway. She has trouble remembering to put stuff in the proper folders, which leads to trouble finding finished homework, which leads to not doing it or turning it in, etc. Scaffolding helps her, but there's only so much that can be done until time works its magic.

Alternatively, one of her brothers and another boy we know have always resented homework and refused to do it. For these two, there's clearly some measure of EF challenge, but the I HATE!!! thing about homework is also a real problem that complicates the situation.

My son is three years older than the other boy, and for the first time, he's starting to show understanding that his homework benefits him and isn't just some cruel form of punishment meted out for no good reason (okay, there's very little busywork at his school). But it's early in the school year, and we shall see.

We (the school and I) have created a no stray papers policy for my kids' backpacks this year. This means that backpacks will be checked, and DD/DS can't leave class/go play at home until the stray papers are in their correct places.

We've always created our own tools for this sort of thing.

Using a spreadsheet is one way-- and this is how DD has gravitated as she has gotten older.

This is a sort of "calendar" for the week, which shows an hourly schedule with fixed stuff in place and part of the template. Additional study time, group work, extracurriculars that shift, etc. etc. etc. are added during weekly "planning" time. We color code, because that is sort of our thing.

Two sidebars exist on the right, and one below. The top sidebar on the right that allows her to "write in" stuff that she schedules, and allows her to then move it to a second (still right) box where "upcoming" stuff is... that is, medical appointments in the FOLLOWING week, etc.

The bottom of the page lists two things below each day of the week in question.

The first is "Items I need to take with me today/what's happening in my classes" So this would include things like "bring Tolstoy-- discussion in 407" or "Midterm MTH"-- assessments tend to get coded in red for emphasis.

The second column is for what projects, etc are DUE and for what, and when during the week.

This is also a seven day schedule.


DD's schedule is extremely complicated, however, and it has been for a while now. It's not that her EF are really even bad relative to her college cohort, so much as that any reasonable adult would also have trouble tracking it all without a good tool.

So we helped her devise this particular tool over the past two years. Each Sunday evening, she is responsible for collecting all the appointment slips, syllabi, notes from class, etc. etc. e-mails from people, and collating it all into that week's schedule. Until a year ago, I did it, while she assisted me.

Then we print three copies of it, and send electronic copies to my computer and her dad's phone. That way we ALL know where she is supposed to be and when. This is mostly so that we don't accidentally text her during class or when she can't have her cell phone making noise, but also so that if we haven't heard from her in a while, we have a way to track her theoretical movements.

Buy in from the person using it is really really key, as Val notes for her son. My DD used to take a great deal of delight in being oppositional to WHATEVER plan I devised, whether or not it was in her interests to follow it. {sigh}

There is an organizer guru from NYC who wrote a book about helping kids with EF/organizational issues. She basically has this "system" that allows the child to make CHOICES based on what will work for them personally. I wish that I could remember who it is. It's a really quick read, and it has great ideas.

For DD, we adapted that and let her use a file box with hanging file folders for MANY years. It really really simplified finding things. I only had to remind her "can you file that?" and then stuff didn't get lost. Because it was her choice, she didn't fight the system, and it worked.

Checked out the samples pages and I agree with everyone above. That planner looks WAY to cluttered. Honestly it's better to find what works for your child. A simple clean-lined planner that can be found in any office supply location at this time of year would be better IMO.

Or.. an online planning tool or calendar. The most frustrating is the idea that ONE system will work for all kids. For my son we find it depend on the activity and class what works best.

I made a customized planner for my son and bound it at staples. The planner the school gave out was too cluttered and not enough writing space. I made one for each nine weeks. Cover,the first three pages had blank calendars that covered that nine weeks....so August, September and October...he could use them or not but they were there. Then pages I made with 6 columns. Small first column just big enough for date, large center column for writing, three small columns just big enough for a check mark and one column big enough for due date (he only filled that in if due other than the next day)...the three small columns were: finished, packed, and turned in.

The beauty was if he only had math homework that is all he wrote down...skip a line or two and started the next day right below it.

If an assignment took three lines to write all the info down, no problem...he could use as many lines as he wanted.

And no inspirational quotes, helpful hints, distracting fun facts or illustrations....just date, assignment, done, packed, turned in, due date...just the uncluttered facts. And plenty of room. I'll never understand how the planner designers expect kids to write anything in the space they allocate.

Now he has moved to completely electronic calendar and to do lists on his smart phone...and the whole: done, pack, turn in set of actions that gave him problems is second nature to him.

I plan stuff as a career, but as a kid - and teen - I was completely hopeless in terms of organizing and planning and goal setting. If I had to survive in today's classrooms, I'd be toast.

So apart from providing a ray of hope for parents of EF-challenged kids (they could grow up to be program managers, you never know!), my point is that having someone else decide how you will be organized doesn't really help. If that person (cough - me - cough) really likes planning and organizing, it's even worse.

Scaffolding and supporting (and reminding and coaxing and even "helping") is good -- but only if the kid has some ownership over the system. When DD was younger it was enough to let the teacher's dictate whatever planning and organizing they wanted. But as she entered the world of flexible homeschool class stuff, I stepped in and would suggest ideas, present opportunities to review and select planners, create schedules on the computer... but the hardest part was backing off and letting her own it.

If something wasn't working, it was better to help her walk through what she wanted to do differently than to suggest or dictate.

This is honestly true at work (where consensus around necessary processes is better than dictating from on high) but it's more true with (pre)teens (who you can't fire, as it turns out).