KADmom, I actually own that book and had forgotten about it.
OK, I had to LMAO at this too - this is sooooo so me lol!
Anyway, Lisa - my ds was so danged scattered and disorganized for so many years that remembering to turn in assignments was a constant challenge for him and if he hadn't been in a school situation where teachers accepted his work late then I'm sure he would have been kicked out of school at some point, it was soooo bad. When I was desperately looking for answers, I read something somewhere online from a parent who had hired a college student to pick her son up after school each day, and before they left school the college student helped her son go through his list of daily assignments, check his backpack to make sure everything that he needed for the night was in there, check to be sure he'd turned in all of his work for that day etc. Basically take over and micro-manage the missing organizational skills, with the goal being that all the daily repetition would, over time, sink in and her son would eventually get it. And he did - it didn't happen overnight, or even during that first year, but by the end of high school he was in control, in charge, and not missing out on turning things in etc.
I couldn't hire a college student but I did pick my ds up each day after school, so I started going into school, going through each class with ds, asking if he had homework in that class and what was it and what did he need to do it, making sure he had what he needed in his backpack and that his locker was organized etc. DS *hated* it at first, then accepted it, and eventually got used to it. Since he didn't particularly like it, he proposed that if he kept on top of his assignments and wasn't missing anything, got everything turned in on time for x number of weeks, would I let go and only check in after school once per week. I agreed, he met his goal, and then eventually he got to where this year he's doing it all independently and apparently doing a good job of it.
The end of the day review and locker check weren't the only things I helped him with. He emails assignments to turn them in, so when he was doing homework I'd ask him after something was finished, did you email it to your teacher.... and made sure he got it done. In the morning before we left we'd make sure everything was in his backpack as well as reviewing what assignments were due, and had he emailed them in - if not, he had to email them then. It was a lot of micro-managing, and again, it seems to have worked. I don't micromanage any of that this year and things are going well.
What you can and can't manage/oversee of course depends on your ds' school situation, but I would just try to think through his day and see if there isn't a way you personally can't step in and help with his organization steps for awhile until he starts finding it routine.
polarbear
