How To Help A Child With ADHD Get Organized

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) frequently affects a person's ability to organize daily tasks and activities. However, as you likely know, organizational skills are crucial for many different reasons. Ideally, children should learn to use organization strategies early on so that they have the tools they need to succeed through their school years and beyond. So, how can you help your child with ADHD get organized and set them up for success if it's something they struggle with?

In this article, we'll talk about how Joon can help your child get and stay organized, why organization might be harder with ADHD, and other tips for supporting organization in kids.

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Why Organization Is Harder With ADHD

Forgetfulness and other ADHD symptoms can make it harder for kids with ADHD to get and stay organized. Challenges with executive function, which refers to a group of skills and complex mental processes such as working memory, managing impulses, planning, and decision-making, is often to blame for difficulty with organization seen in those with ADHD.

Large tasks can be difficult for those with ADHD, as can "boring" tasks that don't keep a child's attention easily. In some instances, the thought of cleaning an entire room - or a messy binder for school - can be so overwhelming that kids don't know where to start.

With ADHD, the brain works differently. Having the right tools to get and stay organized can make a positive impact on organization, task completion, and self-esteem for those with ADHD who may struggle in these areas. To help, parents can teach their children ADHD-friendly organizational strategies.

Tips For Helping A Child With ADHD Get Organized

Sometimes, children need extra help with organization. Challenges with organization can affect more than one part of a person's life and may show up in the form of a messy room, late assignments at school, misplacing important items, or something else. Parents can provide support through patience, creating routines, and implementing organizational strategies at home. Here are some quick tips to use to make a difference and help your child.

Using Joon To Support Organization Skills

Joon is a great tool for children with ADHD and related disorders who need help getting and staying organized. How does it work? Parents download Joon Parent App first and build a customized list of real-life tasks for their children. Children connect with a separate app called Joon Pet Game. When kids finish the tasks their parents assign, they get rewards in the Joon Pet Game app that allow them to take care of a virtual pet.

Joon encourages motivation and independence in children while helping them stay on top of important activities like household chores and homework. Parents can assign as many tasks (also called quests) as they want, and kids can refer back to their task list to help them stay on track.

90% of children who use Joon complete all their quests. Joon is backed by professionals such as teachers and child psychologists. Even better, it’s rated an average of 4.7 out of 5 stars in the App Store, with over 3.9k reviews. 

Click here to try Joon.

Check-In Daily

It's more overwhelming to tackle organization if you don't tend to it daily. Think of it like this: If you pick clothes up off of your bedroom floor on a regular basis and put them in the laundry, your floor stays clean. On the other hand, if you throw your clothes on the floor daily and wait to clean them up until everything you own is dirty, you will be left with a potentially overwhelming mess.

It's hard to start a routine where you tidy up every day if you're not used to it, but once the routine is set, it makes things a whole lot easier. Once you have an organizational system in place for your child, check in regularly to make sure that everything's in order.

For example, let's say that you're working on an organizational plan to help your child at school. If they're like many kids with ADHD, perhaps your child's prone to hectic mornings, leaving important things like their notebooks behind, or having a binder so packed it can't close. So, you help them build a routine where they get everything ready for the next school day directly after their homework is done in the afternoon.

Once you create that plan or routine, check in with your child daily and make sure that items are where they should be, papers they no longer need for school are thrown away (rather than sitting in their binder), and chores (e.g., setting out clothes for the following day) have been completed.

Assign Items To Specific Spots

Create an organization system where you assign items in your house to specific locations. Tell your child where each item should go and when they should be in the spot you choose. For example, "coats go on the coat rack the moment you get inside," or "when you put away the dishes, silverware goes in this drawer." This practice can be adjusted to help with organization outside of the house, too. If your child forgets school supplies, school assignments, or their book bag, you may initiate a routine where your child wraps up homework time by preparing their bag for the next school day, packing each item, and putting it all in an easily accessible location (e.g., by the front door) so that it's ready to go in the morning.

Make A Calendar

With ADHD, children often benefit from visual tools and reminders. Calendars are one example of what can be helpful. On your child's calendar, you might add blocks of time designated for distinct tasks (e.g., homework, after-school activities, or dinner), due dates for school assignments, appointments, or anything else relevant to your child.

To make the calendar more user-friendly for kids with ADHD, consider buying a calendar that is larger than usual so that activities and other significant details can be written out clearly. Ideally, it should be visually appealing. Consider adding colors or stickers to make a child's calendar more fun to look at.

Calendar apps that give kids reminders can help your child organize their day, too.

Color-Code And Label

Color coding and labeling are relatively well-known organizational skills, but they can be valuable nonetheless if your child isn't using them already. Many children find it helpful to color-code school supplies by subject, especially once they get to middle school or high school. For example, kids might use red for math supplies, green for science, yellow for Spanish, and blue for English. Using that system, you'd use a red folder for math papers and put a red cover on your child's math book. That way, they'll know which books, folders, and other supplies to grab for class.

Enforce Timely Concepts

In addition to overall trouble with organization, time management is another common struggle among people with ADHD. One way to keep your child organized in life and tackle difficulties with time management early on is to create a consistent daily schedule for routine tasks.

Enforce timely concepts by giving a child clear expectations as to when certain things should be done. A parent may designate a certain chunk of time for a child to complete homework, walk the dog, and so on. When kids get used to doing things daily and in order, it becomes less of a hassle over time.

Again, writing the schedule out can be valuable, whether you do it with a calendar, app, or checklist. Writing things down and teaching kids to stick to a routine are both fantastic ways to break through concerns like trouble with memory, time, and organization.

Pick The Right Supplies

Choosing the right supplies for organizing items can make a world of difference for kids, teens, and adults. There are many products out there that can make things easier for kids who struggle with organizational skills. If a child has a messy room, hanging organizers with pockets, large bins for toys, and vibrantly-hued stackable cubbies, may help them organize items more effectively. If there's an item that makes organizing things at home or school more simple or more fun, don't shy away from it!

How do I get my ADHD child to do chores?

External rewards are excellent motivators for kids with ADHD, which is part of why Joon can be so helpful in getting children to finish their chores and other tasks. When kids use Joon, the external motivator is the ability to play and make achievements in the game. Other external rewards to use for kids include but aren’t limited to stickers or sticker charts, experiences, token systems, and small objects. On top of external motivation, take care to ensure that you explain your expectations to children in a direct fashion when it comes to their chores. For kids who face elevated resistance to doing chores, working to understand why that is the case is worthwhile. Once a parent knows why, they can address the core issue. 

Takeaway

It is true that ADHD can have an impact on essential organizational skills. However, there are ways your family can support a child and find strategies that work for organizing various parts of life, including school, chores, and self-care. Joon can help your child stay organized and follow through with daily tasks, as can the other tips in this article.