For many of us, organising and prioritising can be difficult. This can be made worse when routines and plans are changing (which we know can happen quite frequently). This is often more challenging for children and young people who are yet to develop the skills to cope with these things.
Some children may find it difficult to:
Process the information that they are given about changes that are happening.
Understand the consequences of what might happen when plans change or if they don’t prioritise certain tasks.
Understand the concept of time when told about upcoming changes or things that need to be done.
Cope with simple / daily tasks that you are asking them to do.
Make it visual – pictures, lists, calendars, diaries, and objects can all help your child to understand.
Get colourful – colours can indicate significance of tasks. Or in diaries and calendars they can help with understanding types of tasks.
Create a list – Not only can they help us prioritise, but we know that for some people crossing something off when you’ve done it can feel very satisfying.
Set alarms – technology can be really helpful to set reminders to stay on track. Or even go old school with an egg timer.
Use general time frames – morning, afternoon, evening can help keep things broader for some people. Or even just a focus on days, e.g. Friday is gym day.
This content has been developed as part of our #itsmyjourney project with Valleys Gymnastics Academy.
Comments