1+study.org.sched

Studying, Organization, and Schedules

Our students with disabilities all struggle with the academic curriculum in some form or another. This is why we have jobs as special educators. But beyond the acquisition and comprehension of academic skills, many of our students are impacted by not being able to manage themselves, their time, their materials, and overall the information that they are acquriing or need to aquire. In the ASNAT Manual Chapter 9 it discusses how organization "is not often a target component of the curriculum but plays a significant role in the acheivement of curricular goals" (page 1).

When determining if/what assistive technology is needed for a student in your classroom who seems to be struggling with organizational problems that are inhibiting his progress towards the curriculum or IEP Goals and Objectives, you need to understand how this student is effected by all areas of organization inclucing their environment in school and outside of school (studying), what tools they are currently using, their time management abilities (schedules), and the list goes on.

ASNAT Manual Chapter 9 is a great resourse to use to help a team determine what a student needs. In this chapter there is a guide for teams to use to help them determine what assistive technology is needed and how to reach that decision on pages 3-7. This chapter does a great job of helping teachers/parents understand how a child is impacted by deficits in organization and gives AT tool suggestions and ways to implement them in the classroom or at home.

Make sure to check out the Organization Problem Inventory that Judy Sweeny created and is found in Chapter 9 of the ASNAT Manual as well as on her website [|www.onionmountaintech.com].

Another great resource to check out that was developed by Colleen Wagner (found on pages 31-34 in the ASNAT Manual of Chapter 9) is a series of charts that give strategies for teachers/parents to use with students who struggle in the different areas of Executive Functioning. These charts are split up in three colums: The area of consideration (example: sustaining attention, planning and organizing), Accomodations Strategies to use that focus on that specific area, and then Intervention Strategies in that specific area.

Organizational Issues encompass many areas such as time managment, planning and organizing of their materials, environmental stimuli management, managing transitions in their day (schedules), as well as behavioral management. The following page of our Wiki space labeled "2. study, organization, schedules" will give you resources to accommodate your students who struggle with organizational issues.