Helping your Student Plan and Prioritize (An Executive Function Skill)
By Monica McGuire, Director of Communications, Russell Coaching
This week’s executive function skill is planning and prioritizing. These skills call on your student’s ability to determine what is important and what isn’t. Students who struggle with planning and prioritizing can have a hard time planning ahead or getting started on a project, often because they don’t know what steps are involved in completing it. They may not recognize that the information in their textbook is organized in a specific way and struggle to understand what is most important. They may have a hard time following a project to completion. For example, they may finish an assignment, but never actually turn it in. If this sounds like your student, read on for three ways to help them develop their planning and prioritizing muscles.
Link a new habit to an established one. We all know how hard it is to build new habits, but if you can link a new habit to one your student already has, you can greatly increase their chance for success. Does your student often forget to take their vitamins but always remember to brush their teeth? Place the vitamins next to their toothbrush so they can take them before or after brushing their teeth. Before you know it, a new habit will be underway.
Encourage your student to add planning time to their day. Help your student build planning time into their day. This is a time to sit down and look at the big picture. Whether it is an upcoming assignment, soccer tournament, busy day, or a day off, planning ahead can help relieve stress and make sure all tasks are completed. When a new assignment comes in, sit down together to break down the assignment — what is required and how long it is going to take to complete? If time allows, be sure to add a cushion, be it hours or days, to your plan so unexpected tasks or interruptions don't derail your student's ability to complete the task on time.
Time your student to get an accurate picture of how long it takes to do something. I don’t know about you, but when my kids were small I always forgot about the “load time.” I almost never planned for the meltdown over the shoes or the extra snack I needed to pack or the dirty diaper that needed to be changed right this minute. If your student has a problem with planning and prioritizing then they may have issues with understanding time as well. How long does it really take to get out the door in the morning or pack a bag for soccer or make a lunch for school? To help your student get a better handle on this, ask them how long they think it will take, then time them to see how long it takes in real-time. Have them pack their bag, drive to soccer, get to the field, and get ready to play. Time the individual components as well as the whole. This will help them plan for future outings and make sure they arrive on time.
Help your students plan and prioritize by linking a new habit to an old one, encouraging them to add planning time to their day, and helping them understand how long it really takes to do something. Doing these things will help your student build healthy habits that will make it easier for them to be successful at home, at school, and in life.
About the Author
Monica McGuire is a writer and parent who believes all relationships, including parent-child relationships, flourish under mutual respect, curiosity, kindness, and compassion. She lives in Michigan with her family where she is constantly being challenged to listen to, understand, and appreciate her teenagers’ points of view. You can reach her at monicamcguire100@gmail.com.