Talk to me about workboxes and your special needs student.

[rafiki]

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[Geo]

 

Does anyone here use a workbox approach for an ADHD middleschooler?

 

How has it worked and what was your "system"?

 

Ds is only 9yo (ADHD), but we will be starting our 3rd year of using the system this Fall. I think it works especially well with people who:

 

1). have organizational issues

 

2). need a visual reinforcement of their progress

 

3) need help making transitions

 

We use a cart drawer system. The structure alone helps him. He knows what to expect... he knows where to get his things and where they need to go when finished. I don't use any of the numbers, charts that she uses in the book, It's just too much. We just start at the top drawer and work down, this helps with a sense of progress. Cleaning up and putting materials back in the drawers and returning those drawers to the cart help him make the transition to the next thing. Each drawer has a pencil, paper, sharpener as well as learning materials. I still sit with my son during his schoolwork, he has no ability for independent work yet. I do hope this year we'll see some growth in executive function, sigh. Anyway, shelves wouldn't work for us...they would soon become messy and lose their sense of organization, which we find the drawers offer....though magazine files could help in the same way as drawers, I suppose. If your son is working independently he would need a card or clipboard with instructions for what is expected in each subject. Could he handle that?...is that too much like a checklist?

Edited June 29, 2011 by Geo

[Misty]

My older two girls enjoy their student planners.. They enjoy checking the boxes. But with my 8yr old, she NEEDS the workboxes or she falls apart. She needs the visual of what she has accomplished and what still needs done. She needs the organization and the predictability. She is a screamer and will scream and start stimming at the slightest change in a daily school routine or if something did not go how she *thought* it was going to go or if she feels like I put something on her that she wasn't expecting. She just falls apart. The workboxes eliminate all of this.. As long as I don't put anything overwhelming or surprising in her boxes.. I try to keep them the same every day.

 

Anyway, you can see our set-up on my blog (in my siggy).

[JessicaLady]

I would go with the idea of workboxes, basically everything in it's place, but possibly without the box. I agree for some people they can appear to be overwhelming. Also, they're new, different, a change. I use a file box, but my son is still young so I am in charge of the file box. He tells me what he wants to work on next. I keep him up to date on what is left in the box and we keep going until it's empty. We take lots of breaks and do whatever he needs to get through his subjects.

 

I've even seen people use a 3"binder instead. They put the papers in a pocket. Again, when it's empty, you're all done. They also didn't use the label transferring system. It also adds a little extra work that some kids hate - while others feel completely accomplished and successful.

 

It's so hard finding a good fit, but I'm sure you'll figure it out for him.

 

J

[happycc]

I had to really simplify the workbox system to work for my 7yrs old daughter who just had a hard time with two many steps of anything.

 

I simply have two plastic boxes. One says, "To Do" and the other says, "DONE"

 

I just put all the things she needs to do in the "To Do" box and she gets to pick and choose out of the box when she wants to do that item. I made large index cards of things for things that won;t fit in the box like Calendar in place them in sandwich bags and threw them in there. Or I put little puzzles kind of like Montessori hands on flashcards in little sandwich bag(for example my daughter had a hard time remembering compass directions-so I made for arrows on index cards and the name so the directions and she is to build it. ) That one gets thrown in the to do box everyday so I know she is reviewing it everyday because she forgets really easily. Whatever she gets done, she puts in the "Done" box. Each night I just go and place everything back into the "to do box" and throw in any other extras I want her do or take out any she doesn't need to do. I also threw in an index card place in a sandwich bag for PE-jump rope, go outside and water plants, ride bike, CHORES, TOYS-which mean break time etc.

 

 

I tried the other workbox method with the velcro and the schedule thing and it just didn;t work. It truly is a simplified version.

[Nature]

We did use the workbox system for a while and it worked great. We used two rolling carts with clear drawers instead of boxes on a shelf. What we liked best about it was:

 

• Short assignments (each box took about 15-20 min. to do)

• Encouraged independence

• Expectations for the day were set and I wasn’t saying, “now do this.â€

• My ds liked getting up to get the new box, so he didn’t have to sit so much.