LET'S GET ORGANIZED!

By Alice Thomas, M.Ed., Glenda Thorne, Ph.D., & Bob Small, M.Ed.

"Sometimes when I am driving, I get so turned around that I feel like I am lost in space! I have no internal compass."

"Not me. I always know where I am. I know without thinking whether I'm facing north, south, east or west."

"I automatically get the 'big picture' when I read."

"Not me. I have to put all the details together and build the big picture."

Do any of these quotes sound like you could have said them?

As adults, how we organize and process information directly affects how we proceed through our day. So it is with children in school. During school years, the level of a student's organizational skills is often directly related to the level of his academic achievement. Yet in school, little time is given to helping children understand and develop their organizational skills, let alone understand how their organizational patterns affect how they process information.

When we think of children, school, and organization, we usually think about how a child organizes his time, his materials, and his tasks. Some children seem to be organized "naturally," while others seem to be naturally disorganized. Further, a child (or an adult, for that matter) may be very organized in one way but very disorganized in another way. For example, a child may have perfect time management, but constantly forget where he left his materials. Another child may have the most amazing system for organizing her materials, but have no sense of time and therefore be constantly tardy!

Disorganized kids frustrate their parents, frustrate their teachers, and frustrate themselves. What do they look like? Read on, and see if you know a child like Valerie or Terry.

Spaced Out and Clumsy
Valerie is friendly and really nice to talk to because she knows so much. She can remember almost anything she hears. She does especially well in reading, social studies, and science. If other students forget to copy their assignments down, they can always call Valerie.

Although she seems to be really organized with some things, Valerie often misplaces things like papers, pencils and pens. When she puts something down, she has trouble remembering where she put it. She tries to close her eyes and think of the last place that she had something. But this never seems to work. This frustrates her. Her visual memory is "the pits."

Valerie also gets turned around in the school building. She will go into a classroom and when she comes out, she will go the wrong way down the hall! The other students used to laugh at her, but now they just point her in the right direction. Valerie is also rather clumsy. She sometimes bumps into walls or door frames and looks really embarrassed when she does this.

Valerie has always made pretty good grades in school. But sometimes she has trouble with certain things and this seems to surprise her teachers. For example, she has trouble understanding charts and graphs and takes a long time to figure them out, if she is able to do it at all. In geography, she can't remember where the different states are located on the map.

At home, Valerie's brothers tease her about being a clutz. They say that she can't figure out anything mechanical. She even has trouble hitting a nail with a hammer, often hitting her fingers instead.

Overall, Valerie is happy and enjoys school. She does often seem to be confused by these things that she is so bad at, however, because she knows that she is really smart since she makes good grades in school.

Out Of Order, Out of Time
Everybody likes Terry. He is friendly toward others and he loves to have a good time. Not everything is easy for him in school, however. He did very well until the middle of his third grade year, when he began having difficulty with multiplication facts, especially on timed tests. He couldn't seem to complete more than half of the problems on the test. As he continued in school, he had even more trouble with difficult multiplication problems and with long division. There just seemed to be too many steps.

It seems strange that he has trouble with math facts, because he is good at solving math problems and does especially well with geometry. He also has a real talent for fixing mechanical things. In fact, he amazes his family when he is the only one who seems to be able to fix the VCR machine or get the dishwasher to work.
Being organized is a Big Problem for Terry. He often forgets to take home the right books, and he doesn't seem to be able to get all of his homework done. He doesn't organize his time well and frequently spends too much time on things that are not very important. Then he runs out of time and doesn't finish the important work. When given a lot of instructions all at once, he gets confused. At the beginning of the school year, he can't remember the order of his classes and must constantly refer to his printed schedule.

When writing, Terry has some clever ideas, but he tends to wander off the topic and often gets the events of a story out of order. If he is asked to use an outline for writing a paper, he will write the paper first and then do the outline.

Terry doesn't like to be so disorganized, but he doesn't know what to do about it.

Can Valerie and Terry and other children like them be helped? Of course. Kids like Valerie and Terry, however, are not "naturally" organized in every way. They need help from their parents and teachers as they develop strategies that build their organizational skills.

There are two main types or categories of organization: visual-spatial and temporal-sequential. Visual-spatial organization is the process our brains use to organize information visually in space. Having a good "sense of direction" and being able to "see" how puzzle pieces fit together are two examples of visual-spatial organization. Temporal-sequential organization is the process our brains use to organize information in time and sequence. Concepts of time, dates, and order are examples of temporal-sequential skills (yesterday, tomorrow; before, after; months of the year; word order in sentences). While many of us may have a preference for one type of organization or the other, being good at one does not necessarily mean being bad at the other. Some people may be excellent at both types of organization, while others may be terrible at both!

Step One for helping a child get more organized is knowing the child's "organizational profile". That is, what kinds of organizational strengths and weaknesses does the child have? Teachers and parents who are keen observers can soon see a pattern in a child's organizational behavior.

It is also important to ask the child about his/her organizational skills. Here are two self-tests for your child or student that will help begin the conversation about his/her organization profile. These self-tests are primarily designed for middle and junior high schools students. With a little imagination, however, you can be easily modify them for younger or older children.

Visual-Spatial Self-Test
Directions: Read the following items and circle the number that indicates how well each one describes you.
Key: 0 Never 1 Sometimes 2 Often 3. Always Circle one number for each question.

1. I get lost easily, even when I am going somewhere I have been before.	1	2	3
2. Charts and graphs are like a foreign language to me.	1	2	3
3. Geography is one of my worst subjects. Latitude and longitude are meaningless to me.	1	2	3
4. I have a hard time with geometry and geometrical shapes.	1	2	3
5. Putting together puzzles drives me nuts! I find it frustrating and boring.	1	2	3
6. I sometimes get confused between left and right.	1	2	3
7. I forget how a word looks when it is spelled right, even when I use it a lot.	1	2	3
8. My locker and book bag are always messy, and so is my room at home.	1	2	3
9. I lose things a lot because I can't remember where I put them.	1	2	3
10. I often fail to recognize someone I've met before, and this is embarrassing.	1	2	3

SCORING
0-9 You could probably find your way out of a maze!
10-19 You can get where you need to go, but may need to use a map with lots of landmarks.
20-30 Don't ever travel alone!

* This self-test has no diagnostic value. It is not intended that your score be used as part of any record or evaluation.

Temporal-Sequential Self-Test
Directions: Read the following items and circle the number that indicates how well each one describes you.
Key: 0 Never 1 Sometimes 2 Often 3. Always Circle one number for each question.

1. I have a hard time remembering the order of events in history class.	1	2	3
2. I understand how to do my math, but I make mistakes because I forget a step or I can't remember the multiplication facts when solving a problem.	1	2	3
3. It takes me a long time to learn my new class schedule each year. I easily forget which class I have next.	1	2	3
4. I never know what time it is.	1	2	3
5. I am not good at listing things in alphabetical order.	1	2	3
6. I never get anywhere on time (I miss the bus, I'm late for school, I'm tardy to class, I'm late for football practice).	1	2	3
7. Time lines for projects or assignments are confusing.	1	2	3
8. I have no real sense of how much time an assignment will take. If I think I need only an hour, it usually takes two or three hours.	1	2	3
9. Remembering the order of things, like the months of the year or the steps in a division problem, has always been hard for me.	1	2	3
10. I find it hard to organize my ideas when I want to tell a story or write a paragraph.	1	2	3

SCORING
0-9 You are a temporal - sequential pro!
10-19 Your time and sequencing skills may need some improvement.
20-30 You may prematurely need your own secretary to keep you organized!
* This self-test has no diagnostic value. It is not intended that your score be used as part of any record or evaluation.

The self-tests are great "ice-breakers" - a natural way to begin discussion of what a child is good at, and where a child needs help with regard to organization. This is also a perfect time for the teacher or parent to share his/her organizational profile with the child. Tell the child about your strengths and struggles with the different types of organization.

Step Two for helping a child build organizational skills and strategies is demystifying the organizational processes - taking the "mystery" away by breaking it down and understanding how it works. Next month's e-newsletter will explore visual-spatial and temporal sequential organization, common visual-spatial and temporal-sequential problems, and management strategies for each. Stay tuned!