The Joyful Organizer Says Preparation is Key for Successful Back to School

It's crazy to think back to school has hit us.  I have the pleasure of sharing this guest post from the Joyful Organizer herself,  Bonnie Joy Dewkett, a Certified Professional Organizer.  She has a innate knack for organizing whatever life throws at you.  Her tips have been featured in Good Housekeeping and Family Circle (just to name a few). Below are great life tips that may add a little sanity to your crazy day.

Going from summer break to a school routine isn’t easy on anyone.  The summer months bring a lot of fun, beautiful weather, and a lackadaisical routine that is just not easy to break when school starts again.  However, this year you can make the necessary changes gradually, and avoid the stress that normally comes with the arrival of the yellow school bus.  By making the transition slowly, and with a positive attitude, the school year can get started off on the right foot!

Shopping:

Back to school shopping can be fun, if you are not under stress to get it done.  Start by having your child go through their closet and determine what clothes are still in good condition and still fit.  Depending on their age, you may want to assist them with this task.  Remember, the weather in September is usually warm enough to wear shorts, skirts, and tee shirts.  So there is no need to run our and buy winter clothes.  However, if you want to start shopping early, start in July when the back to school sales start to appear in stores.  The back to school season hosts the second largest sales of the year (second to Christmas).

Second, take inventory of your child’s school supplies from the year before.  If they have tons of pencils, crayons, etc, there is no need to buy more.  Save yourself time, money, and clutter by checking first.

If your school does not supply a local store with the necessary supply list, call your child’s teacher for it.  This will also allow you an opportunity to introduce yourself and become acquainted before the academic year begins.  If your school accepts donations, this may also be a good time to ask the teacher if there are any supplies they would like for their classroom for the coming year.  Keep in mind that some supplies, such as lunch boxes, are hard to find during other times of the year.  Consider purchasing two if your child is rough on these items.

Start buying your child’s school supplies on your weekly trips to the grocery store, or super stores.  Involve your child in the process.  Have them calculate the amount they have spent on supplies, have them pick colors they enjoy, and have them pick a planner that will fit their academic needs and their personal style.  If your child feels invested with their supplies they will be more likely to take care of them, not lose them, and most importantly to use them effectively.

One of the most important supplies that you will buy your child is their planner/organizer.  It is very important that they like the planner they are using.  Keep in mind that some districts require students to use their school’s planner, or a particular brand.  Make sure that your child understands how to use their planner, and they have a system for the following: writing down tests, quizzes, homework, reading, and long term projects.  Starting these good habits at the beginning of the year will ensure that they are followed throughout the school year.

One of the easiest, and most effective planners, to use is a teacher’s planning book.  These have open weeks so you can put the dates in yourself, and you can quickly switch between weeks.  The pages are large, and therefore give you a great visual of the work your child has to do.  I recommend using different colored inks or highlighters for different subjects.  Or if you child is older, you can consider using different colors of highlighter for different academic significance.  For example, quizzes are highlighted in yellow, projects in green, tests in pink, and long term papers in blue.

Morning Routine:

The morning routine is one of the most stressful parts of the day for most families.  Start developing good routines and habits during the summer months, and they will naturally take effect during the school year.

Develop a place in your home for your child’s backpack.  This should be a place by the door, such as the entryway, or a hallway.  This is where they should keep their backpack at all times.  Your child can remove their homework, books, and other necessary supplies to complete their assigned schoolwork.   When they are done with these items, they should be returned to the backpack to be grabbed on the way out the door in the morning.

Develop a place for permission slips and other items that need to be read, signed, or need attention.  This too can be in the entryway or hallway.  Purchase a small wall mounted file, or magazine rack.  (Insert product suggestion here.)  Have one slot for incoming, where your child can put anything that needs your attention.  It is very important you check this slot daily, take any required action, and then place them in a second slot for outgoing items.  Your child must check this slot daily and take any applicable papers back to school.  Many teachers require students to have a designated folder for items of this nature.

Get your child into the habit of taking their lunch box out of the backpack every night and bringing to the kitchen for a refill.  Have them pick it up from the kitchen in the morning and place it back into their backpack.

If your kids sleep later in the summer months, start getting them back on a normal schedule slowly.  Get them up 10 minutes earlier each morning until you have comfortably reached your morning wake up time.

If your kids have a hard time getting dressed in the morning, have them plan and lay out their clothes the night before.  Purchase an organizer that has the days of the week printed on it.  (Insert product suggestion here.)  Have your child assist you in picking out the week’s worth of clothing at the beginning of the week.  This ensures the clothing your child wants to wear is clean and avoids unnecessary loads of laundry mid-week.

If your child is a little older and wishes for more independence, consider having a fashion show night at your house.  Set up holiday lights as runway light, play music and have your child try on lots of different outfits.  Take pictures and have them printed.  Mount them on a bulletin board near the closet.  This will help make quick outfits during the week, and it will help inspire creativity.

Even with clothes and outfits laid out of the week, your child can use their creativity.  Place boxes full of scarves, sunglasses, hair accessories, and jewelry close by.  Your child can chose from these in the morning, as long as they do not take too long to do it.

Some website even offer wardrobe planners where you can track the clothing you have, its color, and size.  This may help you track what you have and what will need to be replaced soon.  It will also give you an idea of what your child has too much of at any one time.  The trick with these lists, however is to keep them up-to-date.

If your child is small and or often loses clothes and accessories, now is the time to write their name in everything to give it a fighting chance of coming back home.

Daily Maintenance:

It is important that you maintain your daily routines with consistency and an upbeat attitude.  Nothing makes a tough morning worse than complaining and being negative.

In the evenings, do your homework while they do theirs. While your kids are studying, sign their permission slips, pay bills, clean, etc.  This will help designate the time as serious and necessary.  Kids learn by example and if they see you working hard, they will follow suit.

If your kids need help with their homework, it is helpful if you are in the area.  If your kids cannot do homework in their rooms or need your assistance, designate a place in the house where homework will always be done, such as the kitchen table.  In order avoid running for supplies, purchase your child a shower caddy and fill it with all necessary supplies, such as a ruler, calculator, pencils, glue sticks etc.  Check the supply level regularly and make sure it is clean and organized.

Maintain a family calendar with everyone’s schedules, appointments, field trips, sporting events, etc.  A wipe off magnetic one works great and can be stored on the fridge in plain sight.  (Insert product example here.)

Instead of leaving all of the laundry for the weekend, consider doing loads every day during the week.  Putting the laundry in or switching it to the dryer are both small chores your children can do for you while you cook dinner.

Consider maintaining a meal plan and calendar.  This will help you with grocery shopping, and more importantly, deciding what is for dinner after a long day.

If meal preparation is a challenge for you, consider researching meal preparation businesses in your area.  These businesses allow you to prepare and freeze multiple portion meals for your family that are then stored in your freezer, and accessed when you need them.

Having a stress free and successful school year starts with preparation.  Get started the right away this year.  Avoid the back to school rush and the stress of transitioning from summer frolicking to academic routines.  Just by changing a few habits you can make your academic year a successful, happy one!

If you’re looking for adorable and functional back to school products, visit Office Candy.

And if you are looking for a great resource for Back to School with Special Needs, check out Carolyn Dalgiesh's guest post on the Joyful Orgnaziers blog!

Connect with Bonnie through a variety of media outlets: 

The Joyful Organizer®, LLC

bonnie@thejoyfulorganizer.com
http://www.thejoyfulorganizer.com
http://thejoyfulorganizer.com/blog

Looking for free organizing tips?  Subscribe to The Joy of Organizing Radio Show on iTunes!
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-joy-organizing-blog-talk/id352871697

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If you want to be edutained….

The MacGuyver of Assistive Technology herself, Dr. Therese Willkomm will be in Rhode Island in March to lead a great workshop.  I have had the pleasure of participating in Therese's workshops twice.  Her unique presentation style and ideas ignite creativity and practicality that will follow you to work and home immediately.  After her workshop, I visited my local Ace Hardware multiple times to get my hands on PVC piping and various other supplies to make a variety of assistive tech supports for my students.  And luckily, my husband has access to lots of companies who supply many of the materials she recommends.  So if you want to be edutained, consider contacting TechAccess to register for this make and take session with materials included!

Assistive Technology Solutions in Minutes – Using Ordinary Items to Create

Extraordinary Solutions – A Hands-On Make and Take Fabrication Workshop

March 28, 2014 8:30 am —3:30 pm

Learn how to make over 50 adaptations to accommodate someone who experiences a disability. This hands-on, interactive fabrication workshop will teach you how to make over 50 adaptations in 5 min. or less. These adaptations include assistive technology mounting solutions for a wheelchair, table, bed, car, crib, and other surfaces; adaptations to an iPAD; creating basic switches; and making solutions using various plastics. Each participant will fabricate: an iLean, BookiLean, SlantiLean, ScaniLean, SitiLean, FlipiLean, MouseiLe-

an, a battery interrupter; momentary switch; a Plate switch; a camera mount; and an adapted stylus. In addition, participants will learn how to heat and bend acrylic and cut PVC pipe.

Materials and Registration $180.00 

Contact TechACCESS to inquire about group discounts    

To register for any of our workshops visit our website: www.techaccess-ri.org 

The mission of TechACCESS of RI is to promote and support the independence and achievement of people with disabilities through the use of technology.

I am Officially a Player, not to be confused with Playa

So over the weekend, I had the most phenomenal opporutnity to attend at Life is Good Playmaker Training.  And I can now proudly say that I am certified in silly, and a playmaker not a play hater.

When my girlfriend told me about her amazing experiences at the training over the summer, she said "YOU HAVE TO GO!"  So with that much enthusiasm and energy I just had oblige.  And I am so happy I did.

Life is Good Kids Foundation is the culmination of The Project Joy's mission with Life is Good support to help children overcome life threatening challenges.  Project Joy's background was the idea that children who experience trauma need to learn to play again so they can become healthy and joyful members of society.  They train people to help children play and heal.  But they do it in a way that is most effective, they teach you to be playful.  Because you can't teach what you don't have.

I spent the weekend with a bunch of adults, playing.  Using parachutes.  Throwing yarn balls.  Playing musical chairs.  And it was so much fun.  In fact, I realized I really hadn't been my playful self in a long time.  Don't get me wrong, I play with my children.  I play with other's children.  But I forgot the importance of being playful and being in the moment.  If you are not 100% in the moment, thinking about what you have to do later, and what you did in the morning, then you miss what you are doing right now.  And kids know when you are not 'with' them.  So you can't build trust and relationships.  And if you can't do that, then those kids won't be able to be healthy social beings.

Playfulness is not rocket science.  It doesn't mean you have to wear a rainbow wig, dancing and singing (though it might help).  It just means that you have to have joy, be socially connected, have a sense of internal control, and be actively engaged.  It's not the stuff that makes it play.  It's all in the approach.

I know I have had a truly life changing moment that not only will make me a better therapist, but a better wife, mother, and friend.  So find your inner player, and bring it out.  Enjoy the moments.  Like Brad Paisley said, "Live for the little moments."  And if you would like to be a part of the Playmaker Effect, contact the Life is Good Foundation and find a training near you.

Hungry to Try a New Game with your Preschooler?

I was lucky enough to be approached by Think Fun to try out their new game: Snack Attack!  So in the mail today I received my happy little package, and the kids were eager to try it out.

Snack Attack is rated for 4 and up (though Mudge is 3 1/2). The basis of the game is to scan and match food items from the spinner tray to those on your plate, and once there are no more matches to make, you can yell "Snack Attack!" and play again.

It was easy enough to play with my 3 year old, but I do recommend that you do not try to play it with a competitive 6 year old, as they both may get frustrated.  It took them a few turns to understand to flip the 2 sided disc so that the matches touch, but overall, it was a quick game that the four of us played as a family for about 10 minutes.  Boog could have gone longer, and it was enough for Mudge.  Mind you, this was just before bedtime...  Either way, I got 2 thumbs up from the boys.  When asked what they liked best, it was being able to "yell Snack Attack" and being the chef.

It was super easy to set up, which is nice because games and toys now-a-days are not parent friendly.  There are not a lots of parts to lose, but I can see losing the food discs.  Think Fun did try to limit the loss with their plastic tube in which to keep and spin them around its track, though.

Therapeutic uses:
Language development-  Snack Attack promotes food related vocabulary expansion, categorization, articulation, social pragmatics, and turn taking through a playful matching game.

Visual Perceptual Skills- Snack Attack can be used for scanning activities, matching, figure ground, visual discrimination, visual memory and more....

Special Needs- The game can help or be adapted for fine motor development, and can be easily used by those with upper extremity issues by having them be the "Chef" and having them turn the spinner with little resistance.  Through some dycem or other non skid under the plates and serving platter piece to keep it more stable on a slippery surface.  You could also adapt a universal cuff to hold a suction to pick up the discs.

One of the only flaws I see with the design is the slipperiness of the the food discs on the plates.  As they are both a glossy finish, the items do slide around a lot.  And occasionally I got a too few many discs to come out and be "served" on the platter.

Overall, the game will definitely be coming to school with me for sessions and it is a nice addition to our family game closet.

Best. Preschool. Ever. Guest Blogger: The Brombergs

Hi, OT Mommy Fans! We are the Brombergs – Sam, Casey, 3 year old Harry, 9 month old Cecilia, and Freddie, the Brazilian Basset Hound.  (Seriously, the dog is from Brazil.  We have papers for him Portuguese.)  Sam and Becca are cousins, and we call Becca’s Mudget, “Little Sam.”  He and Harry are just about a month apart.  We live in Oakland, Maine, which is near Waterville, in the Belgrade Lakes Region.  Casey is writing these posts, with Sam looking over her shoulder making “suggestions.”

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine occupying 200 kids under five with no tv and no timeouts for 12 hours a day.  Before you start panicking at this image, take a look at this place:

This is Harry Bromberg’s preschool.  (I say Harry Bromberg because he is only now starting to grow out of a tendency to refer to himself in the third person.  It’s pretty entertaining.)  Educare Central Maine is a palace – the kind of child care facility you can only dream about, an $11.5 million kiddie castle.  It’s only been open since August 2010 and there is a huge waiting list for both low-income and middle income families.  Harry had been on the waiting list for 10 months before he got in, and Baby Cecilia is now 15 months on the waiting list.  (Yes, the math is right, I put her on the waiting list in the womb.)  We call Cecilia the Educare Baby, because some of the national Educare funders are using her photo in their PR materials.  The kids only made it on the middle-income waiting list because I work for the social service agency who developed the center locally. 

See?  You’d give money to a face like this!

I don’t know about the rest of you, but around here, I’m not sure which experience is more stressful, trying to buy a car or finding a safe, affordable place to care for your kids.  All the guesswork is taken away with Educare.  It’s part of a national network of state of the art child care facilities and the only one in the northeast.  They use a curriculum that is basically Head Start put on steroids, with the added bonus that all the teachers have either a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in early childhood education, with low student-teacher ratios to boot.  The facility also serves as a learning lab for other child care providers and early childhood education degree students to take classes, do observations, etc.  We have parent-teacher conferences every three months and design goals for Harry, which includes teaching us how to help him with those goals.  They have independent evaluators come and work with the kids to assess developmental skills and milestones.  However, it’s not done like he’s a lab rat.  It’s all about him and what we all do together to help him.  It’s actually really cool.

Research tells us that 85 percent of all brain development happens before age 5, with most of it actually happening by age 3.  It’s amazing for us, having Harry in this program.  We already have a glimpse of what his true potential will be and he’s only 3 ½.  He’s grown so much emotionally and in intelligence since he started in January.  If you’re not a believer yet, watch this video put together by the Ounce of Prevention Fund.  I’m not much of a crier, but this makes me choke up every time I watch it.

Change the First Five Years and You Change Everything

It is a mathematical fact that fifty percent of all doctors graduate in the bottom half of their class.

"Mom, 4 times 3 is 12, right?"

"Yes, it is. Why do you know this?"

"My brain just taught it to me."

And there it was.  A 5 year old who knew the concept of multiplication.  So I tested him a little further, as we drove down the road.  5x3.  He looked into a different direction as if to see the numbers, took a moment and blurted the answer. 15.  OK, 2x8.  Squinty eyes, finger calculating in the air.  16.  I didn't teach it to him. Neither did his wonderful Kindergarten teacher.  "Boog, how do you know this?"

Well, come to find out, Boog and Kyle were in the car one day a few weeks earlier and Kyle explained to him that multiplication was just addition.  That was it.   That was all it took.  Now, don't get too Rainman on him, because he couldn't go past double digits accurately, but it is pretty interesting.  But it goes with his personality, concrete, black and white, numbers.  He gets things easily when there are rules, which is all math is, rules.

So who is to say that my future MIT graduate will pay for my nursing home staying later in life?  I suppose I shouldn't get too excited, he only did just graduate from Kindergarten today.

OT Soapbox: knick knack iPaddy wack....

iPad, oh iPad, how do i love thee? Let me count the ways....

On Mother's Day I received a gift that keeps on giving, my iPad.  Granted, I was planning on getting one away, but the excitement of receiving one is just as fun.  One of the reasons I was so excited was the potential therapeutic uses for which I could use it at work.

Most of the children with whom I work are non verbal and have a lot of special needs and accommodations due to multi sensory issues.  What I was hoping for was a little miraculous device to help them communicate, play and show what they know.  And that is what I got.

The iPad and its infinite number of available apps has opened the door for many of the students.  I am seeing kids grab at my hand to make lines.  Some kids are using their voices to make the little Rex talk back, and others are showing me that they actually know their letters.  Recently, one set of parents purchased a Tablet because I had shared with them how wonderfully their daughters were engaging with games.  

It does frustrate me that for a fraction of the cost of a laptop or Dynavox, kids could have access to a socially acceptable piece of equipment that could help them communicate and interact with peers and adults.  Some counties and schools are beginning to purchase them, and maybe slowly it will trickle down the pike to my system, but I won't hold my breath.  So in the mean time, if you are looking to get an iPad for yourself or child (whether they have special needs or not) here are some great places to keep in mind to help you search for apps that are appropriate (but please don't forget about Angry Birds. I can totally justify it!)

Moms With Apps is a collaborative group of family-friendly developers seeking to promote quality apps for kids and families. Their app catalog is now available on iTunes.  And if you sign up with them, you get perks like Free Friday where you can download apps for free

Apps in Education is a educational search engine developed by parents and educators to help people  looking for educational apps available in the Apple App Store.

iPodsibilities has a great list of apps used in/for special education


Please keep in mind these are just 3 of the umpteen million things you can find on iTunes, new apps come out every moment and you just have to find some, try them and see what works for you and your kids...

Remember the seed in the little paper cup....

In honor of our little Kindergarten and Preschool graduations rapidly coming, I found it appropriate to share a great folk song similar to Robert Fulghum's poem "All I Really Need to Know I learned in Kindergarten."  It's called Kindergarten Wall by John McCutcheon. McCutcheon is a multi-grammy-nominated folk singer /songwriter with years of music under his belt.  But it is this song I love, and now Booger does as well.  I think you will too.  When your little one is grown, you can share it with them again, because the words are simple and true.  You can download it on iTunes for $0.99. It is well worth the dollar....


The Kindergarten Wall
When I was a little kid not so long ago
I had to learn a lot of stuff I didn't even know
How to dress myself, tie my shoes, how to jump a rope
How to smile for a picture without looking like a dope
But of all the things I learned my favorite of them all
Was a little poem hanging on the kindergarten wall

CHORUS:

Of all you learn here remember this the best:
Don't hurt each other and clean up your mess
Take a nap everyday, wash before you eat
Hold hands, stick together, look before you cross the street
And remember the seed in the little paper cup:
First the root goes down and then the plant grows up!

Well, it was first, second, third grade, fourth grade, too
Where I had to learn the big things the big kids do
To add, subtract, and multiply, read and write and play
How to sit in a little uncomfortable desk for nearly half a day
But of all they taught me my favorite of them all
Was the little poem hanging on the kindergarten wall

Chorus

But lately I've been worried as I look around and see
An awful lot of grown-ups acting foolish as can be
Now I know there's lots of things to know I haven't mastered yet
But it seems there's real important stuff that grown-ups soon forget
So I'm sure we'd all be better off if we would just recall
That little poem hanging on the kindergarten wall

Chorus

Words and Music by John McCutcheon, Mail Myself to You

©1988 by John McCutcheon. Published by Appalsongs (ASCAP)

OT SOAP BOX: Being on the other side of the meeting table

I have participated in many many many staffings and IEPs over the past few years, and I always made it a point to be compassionate and sympathizing.  I recently have had the luxury of empathizing as well.  


Mudget has always had a nasally sounding voice.  Our family often mocked him (I know it is terrible) Like when he asked "Auntie Tata for a nyack."  She replied, "You want a nyack?" "No! I want a nyack!"  And this would go on like a Laurel and Hardy skit.  He's had ear tubes placed twice and adenoids out.  And every visit to the ENT, I say, boy doctor, he is really nasally and he can't blow bubbles or a pinwheel without holding his nose.  And that doctor would reply, "oh he doesn't have a problem. If he did, he would sound like this..."  And he would talk in a voice that sounded just like Mudget's.  So needless to say, I switched ENTs, got a second opinion and a referral for a speech evaluation.


At the evaluation, the speech therapist used a standardize test, as well as just talked with him to hear his typical voice and speech patterns.  And when we met the next day for the staffing, the meeting at which you determine if he qualifies for special services, she stated that he has nasal emissions (talking through the nose resulting in air coming through), and though it is at the end of the year, try some of these activities over the summer, and she will look at him in the fall when he enters the new local preschool to see if we need intense therapy to alleviate the problem.


But it got me thinking.  I am well aware and have many resources and supports to utilize to my advantage. I know and feel comfortable asking questions and advocating for my kids (birthed, and not birthed).  But for those new to the experience, it is very daunting.  So I wanted to share some info and apps so that people can better and more comfortably understand the process.


iAdvocate is a free app developed by Syracuse University with responses to problems, strategies and resources about how to advocate for inclusive services.


ASHA, the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association, has a number of resources on the development of speech and language.  According to ASHA, by the end of Kindergarten as child should be able to do the following:

Listening

• Follow 1-2 simple directions in a sequence
• Listen to and understand age-appropriate stories read aloud
• Follow a simple conversation

Speaking

• Be understood by most people
• Answer simple "yes/no" questions
• Answer open-ended questions (e.g., "What did you have for lunch today?")
• Retell a story or talk about an event
• Participate appropriately in conversations
• Show interest in and start conversations

Reading

• Know how a book works (e.g., read from left to right and top to bottom in English)
• Understand that spoken words are made up of sounds
• Identify words that rhyme (e.g., cat and hat)
• Compare and match words based on their sounds
• Understand that letters represent speech sounds and match sounds to letters
• Identify upper- and lowercase letters
• Recognize some words by sight
• "Read" a few picture books from memory
• Imitate reading by talking about pictures in a book

Writing

• Print own first and last name
• Draw a picture that tells a story and label and write about the picture
• Write upper- and lowercase letters (may not be clearly written)

Taken from http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/kindergarten.htm  This also has clicks for each of the grade levels through 5th.  

They also describe the differences between speech and language.  http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/language_speech.htm

So keeping this all in mind, if you think your child has a problem, talk to your pediatrician and his/her teacher about your concerns.  You are the parent. You know the child.  And follow your gut. You are you child's best advocate, unless of course you suffer from Muncheusen's By Proxy....

The beauty of Donors Choose

If you work in the school system then chances are you know about Donors Choose. Perhaps you may have even submitted or donated to a project. This year was my first experience with it. And I recently received my first donation, for which I am very grateful. So I wanted to share the story behind this wonderful community asset and maybe inspire some more random acts of kindness.

DonorsChoose.org grew out of a Bronx high school where teachers experienced first-hand the scarcity of learning materials in our public schools. Charles Best, then a social studies teacher, sensed that many people would like to help distressed public schools, but were frustrated by a lack of influence over their donations. He created DonorsChoose.org in 2000 so that individuals could connect directly with classrooms in need. So DonorsChoose.org engages the public in public schools by giving people a simple, accountable and personal way to address educational inequity. And hope for a nation where children in every community have the tools and experiences needed for an excellent education.

So as the school year comes down to an end, thank the teachers, assistants, therapists, and PTO, check out donorschoose.org and think about how you can make a difference in so many people's lives with just a click of a mouse.

And if you want to donate to my project you can find it under providence, RI, bring my kids to life