Understand Your Child

Skill Development - Organisation and Planning Skills

What are they?

Organisation involves the ability to; establish what is it that you want to do, to know where to begin the task, the sequence in which to carry it out (including pulling together the necessary materials), to problem solve in the event of a challenge, and the ability to persist with the task to completion (and within an appropriate time frame).

Why is it important?
Organization is an important aspect in children’s play, social interaction with their peers, personal management (eg self care tasks, bringing home all their belongings from school), and academic task performance (eg homework, project planning and performance). Organization is typically a skill that (at least at some degree) needs to be specifically modelled, supported by sensible structures (such as diaries or visual charts, labelled storage containers) and reinforced by realistic routines (pack away one toy/task before commencing another).

Building blocks necessary to develop organization:
• Executive functioning
• Sensory processing
• Attention and alertness

You tell there are problems with organization if the child:
• Is generally disorganised
• Struggles to get themselves ready on time
• Has difficulty getting things organized at school (e.g. getting out pencils, paper, glue and the right book for a classroom activity)
• Has difficulty putting multi-step tasks together (e.g. construction)
• Appears lazy and not completing work (when in fact they may not know how to start the task)
• Gets distracted easily or shows poor attention to the task
• Has difficulty getting thoughts down on paper

When organization is less than ideal, you might also see difficulties with:
• Visual processing
• Sensory processing
• Learning difficulty
• Self care and independence

What can be done to improve organization skills?
• Break large tasks into smaller ones wherever possible, even if it seems silly. Not only does this offer support skill development, but also reduces anxiety.
• Recognise that additional practice is often required on an ongoing basis to recall a previously mastered task.
• Established self instruction strategies including self questioning;
• Backwards chaining
• Use visual cues to support organisation

Activities that can help improve organization include:
• Construction and building games
• Sequencing activities like ‘Battleships” and other board games that require planning
• ‘Story mapping’, ‘mind mapping’ and other visual approaches to break down complex task into manageable steps