January 10, 2023

Tips for teenagers with ADHD to get organised

If you are a parent of a teenager with ADHD you will be very familiar with the messy room, their tendency to lose things, forget assignments, and overflowing desks. Also, teenage brings new chaos in their life, whether it is physical changes, emotional changes, and changes in the way they adjust to everything around them. Teenagers with ADHD struggle to organize themselves also increases which may lead to additional problems. When teenage children are disorganized and unable to find a way out of it, they might get overwhelmed. They might fall behind academically and with other commitments.

In order to help your children, it is first important to understand the reason behind their disorganization. The neurological process involved in organizing, prioritizing and analyzing is referred to as “executive functions”. People with ADHD face executive dysfunction because of the abnormal dopamine levels in the frontal lobe of the brain. Those who take medication for ADHD might show improvements in their ability to stay organized but they would still require support from their teachers and parents to remain on top of things.

Parents can teach some simple strategies to let teenagers manage their assignments, deadlines, appointments with therapists and other commitments. Learning how to organize themselves would allow teens with learning disabilities and ADHD to take back control of their lives. Additionally, these strategies increase their efficiency and boost their confidence.

This article discusses some tips for teenagers with ADHD to get organised. Teens in general can also utilize them in order to organize their life better.

Tips for teenagers with ADHD to get organised- Using a Planner

Planners would help children remain on top of all their commitments, whether these are related to academics, extra-curricular activities, or, their social life. All they need to do is write down their commitments in the correct place whenever they find out about them. Planners are easily available and can be bought on Amazon or can be created at home using a template (download here).

In order to encourage the use of planners, parents can use a planner to track all family member’s commitments and plans and can be located in a central area of the house.

There are different types of planners available. These can be in the form of notebooks (which can be carried anywhere and can be made for the entire year or specific months). There are also whiteboard planners available with rightful columns showcasing that can be used for a month at a time.

Tips for teenagers with ADHD to get organised - Taking advantage of technology

The ever-changing realm of technology has much to offer. So why not take advantage of the many applications that are easily and readily available to download? Applications like ‘Remember the milk’, ‘Evernote’, ‘Google Keep’ and simple reminder applications can work wonders in organizing the life of a teenager. The only thing they need to do is keep updating them and the applications serve as reminders for the tasks to be done.

Tips for teenagers with ADHD to get organised – Investing in multi-compartment backpacks

Multi-compartment backpacks that include two-three large pockets – one for textbooks, one for notebooks and one for personal items will help teens to not forget necessary items for schools. These backpacks can help teenagers take care of their belongings and supplies in order.

Tips for teenagers with ADHD to get organised – Using color-code for belongings

This is a fantastic method to organize oneself, especially subjects in school. Different colors can be assigned to each subject as this would allow to quickly organize items visually.

Color codes can be used for a variety of things and not just for academic purposes. Parents can use colors to distinguish between the different bins, for differentiating items belonging to either the teen or their siblings and in countless other ways.

Tips for teenagers with ADHD to get organised – Assigning everything a place

If everything has a designated place, organization can happen naturally and it will also be easy to locate things whenever teenagers need them. Specific shelves can be designated for school things, a holder for storing CDs can be used, old artwork and other papers can be stored in an underbed box. You can also teach them to organize their wardrobe in a set way too like by using color, for example.

Tips for teenagers with ADHD to get organised – Providing additional supplies to teens

This is where the teachers come in. Given that children with learning disabilities or ADHD, can often forget books and other supplies at home, teachers can have additional supplies for these children available in the classroom. They can have additional copies of textbooks available in class and can distinguish between the two sets of supplies – one for home and one for school. Doing this would ease some pressure off the teen and also restrict their reasons for being embarrassed. Having two sets of supplies would also help children in retaining their mental energy for learning, which is most important.

Tips for teenagers with ADHD to get organised - Making use of timers

Watches and timers are perhaps the simplest organizational tools but they are quite effective too. Teens can make use of these to keep a track of how long they are spending on each task. This can allow them to properly plan how much time they would be able to spend on the remaining tasks. There are applications available on phones that can also help with this apart from traditional clocks and watches.

The strategies mentioned here can be of great help for getting teens to organize their daily tasks. Other than helping them get organized and boosting their confidence, such strategies also give teens a feeling of independence they require and deserve at this stage of their life.

Interestingly, these strategies can also be made use of by the typical teens and others who need to improve their organizational skills. It should be pointed out there might be countless other strategies that can be utilized to aid organization. There might be some ‘trial and error’ required. Parents and others wanting to help teens should remain patient. Children are usually great at coming up with ideas, and these ideas might actually work best since the child thought of them on their own.

No matter what strategy they choose to make use of, perhaps it is best if parents and other caregivers, including teachers are always ready to extend a helping hand in whatever way the teen might require.