It’s that time of year again when the new backpacks and freshly sharpened pencils start appearing on store shelves and shopping carts. Back-to-school shopping signals the end of summer and the start of a brand-new chapter for our students. It also marks another opportunity to help boost your learner’s executive functioning skills as they head into a new school year. So as you prepare your student for back-to-school, consider adding some of these tools and supplies specially designed to boost executive functioning skills like planning, organization, and time management.
Planning
When it comes to school supplies, the first things we think about are planning and organization. Planning requires learners with diverse needs to identify and manage tasks in the future. It’s how our students keep track of assignments, important dates, social events, and more. So when we’re shopping for school supplies that support planning skills, we look for easy-to-use items that include clear visuals and are geared towards their current academic level (i.e., don’t purchase your pre-teen a planner designed for a corporate CEO). Some favorites worth checking out:
- Smart Planner Academic Calendar – One of the best planners for goal-setting and academic planning, designed to help high-school-aged learners break down overwhelming to-do lists into manageable steps.
- Work Smart Academic Planner – Large format academic planner geared towards students in grades 6-12, emphasizing executive functioning. Designed by Peg Dawson and Richard Guare, two leading researchers in the psychology of executive functioning.
- Dry Erase Calendar – If your learner will likely misplace a book-style planner, consider a magnetic dry erase calendar. With weekly and monthly options, your learner can quickly make adjustments and use color-coded markers to clearly organize upcoming events.
Time Management
One of the big stressors teens and young adults report heading back to school is managing time effectively. Learners with time management struggles can benefit from tools that help them more effectively and efficiently use their time.
- Visual Timer – Visual timers allow learners to understand how much time they have to complete a task and anticipate upcoming transitions to new tasks. It’s one of the tools recommended by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky in the best-selling book “Make Time”
- SmartWatch (Affordable) – Wearable reminders and time management systems have come a long way in the past few years. Help your teen stay connected to their calendar and reminders without spending hundreds of dollars on the latest and greatest tech. These smartwatches are affordable and functional to help with reminders and time management.
Task Initiation
If your learner does well with planning and organization but has difficulty getting started, check out these task initiation tools for back-to-school. Task initiation involves identifying the next steps, generating ideas, and keeping the momentum rolling. These tools can be helpful for homework, chores, and getting started with big projects.
- Visual Daily Schedule – Research shows students with unique learning needs perform better when using visual systems and supports. Consider charting out your learner’s daily schedule so they can anticipate what’s ahead and move quickly from one task to the next.
- Daily To-Do List – Help your learner prioritize what tasks to start first by creating daily to-do lists. These specially formatted pages include places to record homework, chores, errands and then prioritize what’s most important to complete.
Problem Solving & Working Memory
Problem-solving involves how we identify and describe a problem and then generate solutions to fix it. We use problem-solving in combination with working memory (or applying what we already know) in every area of our life. As your learner encounters challenges at school, set them up for problem-solving success with these tools:
- Easel Flip Chart – Help your learner brainstorm and manage projects with large-format easel paper. Work on planning sessions, project management, or just dump ideas down to help with attention and focus.
- Creative Block – For older learners who may struggle with creative or mental blocks, the creative block contains more than 100 different methods to help with brainstorming and problem-solving. Pull out a card and look at a problem from a new perspective.
Organization
While organization means different things for different individuals, keeping belongings neat is a critical executive functioning skill for back-to-school. These tools can result in less frustration and create a sense of control. Ultimately, your learner finishes tasks more quickly and efficiently, leading to more free time.
- Universal Note Taking System – Thousands of high school and college students have learned the universal or Cornell note-taking system, focusing on main content in one area of the paper and questions or further learning tasks in another place. These notebooks are pre-formatted with the note-taking system and helpful for learners who struggle to organize thoughts and prioritize key learning objectives.
- Classroom Mailbox – Keep papers, notes, and materials for each of your learner’s classroom subjects in one place with this 10-slot mailbox.
- Backpack Organizer –Does your teen insist on carrying a stylish backpack that inevitably leads to a lot of disorganized books and paper? These nylon backpack inserts fit into most standard school backpacks and instantly create pockets for water bottles, electronics, and school supplies.
- Adjustable Locker Organizer – Expand your learner’s space for storing school and gym supplies in their locker. Instead of the ‘stuff it in’ strategy, these adjustable locker shelves assemble without tools and allow for stacking books, backpacks, and school supplies in a more organized way.
Attentional Control
If your learner struggles with paying attention for long periods of class, study sessions, or schoolwork, your back-to-school supply list should also include tools to improve attentional control. Boost the duration of time and help your learner focus on tasks until completion with some of these items:
- Convertible Workstation – Having an accessible workspace for your learner to focus in is the first step in building attentional control at home. Choose a spacious desk that easily allows your learner to pivot between individual tasks and group tasks when working with classmates.
- Office Supplies Organizer – Along with having a desk space that allows your learner to stay focused, having all the office supplies and homework materials together in one location will also reduce distractions. Help your learner avoid having to search for calculators, highlighters, extra paper, or supplies by having everything stored in one easy-to-access organizer.
- Chair Bands – Constantly reminding your learner to put their feet on the ground? Slip these classroom chair bands over the chair legs to install an easy and cost-effective alternative to bouncing legs and fidgety feet.
Emotional Control
Back to school can cause a significant build-up of emotions for learners and parents. Emotional control—or our ability to keep our emotions in check—involves understanding how and why feelings happen and the better strategies to handle them. Check out these options for learning to describe and manage challenging emotions.
- Wheel of Emotions Poster – Want your learner to do a better job describing their emotions? Post this wheel of emotions in your learner’s workspace to provide more options and details when emotions run high.
- Mindfulness Game – Research shows that children, teens, and young adults who practice mindfulness and meditation have better emotional control skills. Use this deck of mindfulness exercises to help your learner practice skills and tools for better behaviors.
Self-Monitoring
Finally, the executive functioning skill of self-monitoring can be a big help for students as they navigate the school year’s challenges. Self-monitoring, or how we examine our own behavior and make improvements in the future, can be supported with a wide range of different tools, including:
- Habit Tracker – Each month, your learner can use this spiral-bound notebook to select habits to improve and then log results. The colorful wheel design becomes a visual reminder to your learner of goal-setting and achieving better habits.
- Dry-Erase Sticky Reminders – Help your learner remember their goals and set reminders using these dry-erase sticky notes. The 6-pack of notes can be stuck to mirrors, tables, electronics, and metal surfaces and then repurposed with different written messages and reminders.
Further Reading
- Life Skills Advocate Blog: The Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide for Diverse Learners
- Life Skills Advocate Blog: Pandemic Back To School Guide
- Life Skills Advocate Blog: “School is Pointless” A Parent’s Guide To Low Academic Motivation
- Life Skills Advocate Blog: How Teaching Executive Functioning Skills Can Reduce Challenging Behaviors
- Life Skills Advocate Blog: Executive Function Skills By Age: What To Look For