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What happens when we
recognize that someone has serious problems with
organization and that the source of the problem
isn't laziness or lack of motivation?
In the author's experiences
with schools, I have often observed that the 504
Plan or IEP makes all kinds of provisions for the
teachers and parents to somehow compensate for the
student's problem: the teacher is to record the
assignments or check off that the student has
recorded and packed them; the parent is to initial
a notebook showing what came home and what got
done, etc. The parents and the teachers, who are
already more organized than the child, just engage
in more organizing behavior without ever really
teaching the child how to organize himself or
constructively engaging him in solving his problem.
Seldom do I see an IEP where there are specific
goals and objectives listed that address teaching
the child the organizational skills that he will
need to function independently.
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Unless you are
willing to be following that child around
when he's 30, you'd better start figuring
out a way to teach him how to organize
himself and meet his
responsibilities.
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There are two ways to view
this problem. One is to say that the child needs
our support, and that by supporting the child by
providing the back-up copies, etc., we are reducing
the child's vulnerability and doing A Good Thing.
And maybe, along the way, the child will begin to
do what he sees us doing and will develop the
organizational skills. But if the child is feeling
vulnerable and our taking care of all the
organizational problems reduces that vulnerability,
why will the child risk "blowing that" by
attempting to organize himself? Even a child who is
motivated to organize himself is likely to assess
the situation and recognize that the adults are
going to do a much better and more consistent job
than he could ever do, so why even try?
Now consider another approach
-- one in which we work with the child as their
consultant or supporter to help them organize
themselves. We let the child recognize and
appreciate where their problems are and ask how we
can be of help to them, assuming the best -- that
they want to be responsible and organized. Often,
the ideas or strategies that they come up with may
be better than anything we could come up with and
since they are now vested in the strategy, they are
more likely to comply with it.
So we determine if they're
motivated to organize themselves and offer our
support. Within that context, there are a number of
tricks or strategies that can be used. Hopefully,
they will be used within in a context in which we
are trying to support the child's efforts to
organize themselves. We do so recognizing that
there will be many 'failures' along the way, and
that if we want the child to succeed, we have to
make it emotionally safe for them to try and even
to fail. We need to reduce their vulnerability and
we do by reducing our own. As parents, teachers, or
treating professionals, we are not responsible for
doing the child's work. We are not responsible for
'nagging' them to do their work. If they tell us
that they would find it helpful to have a reminder
at a particular time so that they can start their
work, we can provide that reminder. But we probably
should stop at the point when our efforts are not
experienced as support and become 'nagging' or
confrontation -- particularly if they have mood
lability or are otherwise prone to explosive
outbursts.
One final note: students with
EDF may benefit from computers or electronic
organizers that incorporate calendars with
repeating functions. How much better to teach
someone that although he may not remember things
easily, he can teach himself to rely on a computer
as a memory prosthesis. We can teach most children
and adults to program their own reminders on
computers. Alarms can be set (by them) so that they
stay in control of taking responsibility. Such
devices become lifelong tools that enable
independent functioning and can rightfully be
considered assistive technology and/or a reasonable
accommodation.
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