Getting children to complete chores is a common complaint among parents. Our students have difficulty looking at a task, breaking it down into smaller pieces and estimating how much time each piece will take. This is often due to weak executive function skills.

Tips and Tools   

 Concept of the Month: Getting Organized

How many times have we asked our children to clean up their rooms and get upset when it doesn't happen? They may look at the 'mess' and just not know where to start. This may be due to weak organizational skills. When we organize we can do a task quicker. First they need to look at the mess and figure out what different groups there are. Clean clothing in one pile, dirty clothing in another, action figures in another pile, a missing pieces box for objects that don't seem to have a home, and a garbage can for the garbage. After having organized things children will see how quickly these items can be put away.

Pick a common activity, such as getting dressed, and have the child break down the activity into its smaller steps. For example, first you might gather all the clothes, then put on underwear, then put on pants, then put on shirt, next put on socks and last put on shoes. After writing it down have the student guess how long each part of the activity should take, and how long it should take in total. Last have the child time it with a stopwatch (a common feature on most cell phones). See if they were right. It's usually doesn't take as long as they think it will.

 Activity:

Have your child make a list of all their homework. Ask them to guess how long each subject will take. Use a stopwatch to see if they were right. If your child gets distracted, stop the stopwatch and restart it when they get back on task. Point out to them how much time on task they actually spent, and note how much longer it took because they got distracted.