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Getting organized
Tweens
Nobody ever becomes an expert parent. but i think good parenting is about consistency. It's about being there at big moments, but it's also just the consistency of decision making. and its routine. -Sebastian coe
Visual routines
Create visual routines for your child. Create a visual for each routine they need support in like getting ready in the morning, chore time, homework time, and bedtime.
Visualize your path
Tell your child that they are going to do a mental dress rehearsal of what will happen in their future. They are going to be a Mind MIME.
M- STOP and make an image in your mind
I- Imagine yourself in a future place and time
M- Imagine yourself going from Point A, to Point B, to Point C
E- You can feel yourself there/talk yourself through it/make an image and change it if you need to
By getting your child to visualize their path, they can experience how it will feel in the future. Do they need to move faster through time and space? What can they do to change their pace and time?
Visualizing their path forces them to look into the future and practice what it will look like BEFORE they actually go and DO it!
WOrking clock
The Working Clock is an Executive Functioning strategy that was created by Sarah Ward and Kristin Jacobsen. It allows students to visually see the passage of time, and feel how much time they have throughout the day.
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Students can color code their tasks in their planners and organizers, and then match the task to the color used on their Working Clock.
Have middle and high school students set their own schedule by chunking out the amount of time they will need for each task.
Get Ready, Do, Done
Three steps to success: “Get ready, do, done”
The planning process is taught as a sequential process with visual tools that fade to mental imagery. Tweens learn the executive function process of “planning backwards” to “move forwards” for completing tasks. Using self-talk, your tween ask themselves, “What three questions do I ask myself to be a planner?”
1. What will it look like when I am done?
2. What steps do I need to take to match my done image?
3. What materials will I need?
Once your tween anticipate what it will look like and feel like to be “done,” they engage in a mental dress rehearsal and practice the steps to “do” the task, and determine what they will need to “get ready.” To help them remember to “plan backwards,” three different colored mats are provided: red for “done,” green for “do,” and yellow for “get ready.” The mats are also laminated, so your tween can be “future sketchers” and sketch images of the tasks to be accomplished as part of that particular step.
Sleep stories
Have a hard time getting your child to sleep?
Try having your child listen to a sleep story before bed.
Still not sure? Listen to @socialemotionalkid explain why he loves sleep stories.
Resources to support routines
