Academic and Behavioral Interventions

Are you looking for ways to keep your students organized during distance learning? If so, keep reading.

1. Give sufficient transition time between learning activities for the student to organize their learning materials.
2. Teach the student time management skills. Get the student to make a daily plan and follow it. Urge the student to avoid becoming distracted by activities, impulses, and moods.
3. Give the student oral reminders of appropriate learning materials required for each learning experience.
4. Teach the student to prioritize tasks according to importance, length, etc.
5. Praise the student for having appropriate learning materials for specific learning activities : (a) give the student a tangible reward (e.g., privileges such as leading the line, handing out learning materials, 10 minutes of free time, etc.), or (b) give the student an intangible reward (e.g., praise, handshake, smile, etc.).
6. Teach the student how to safeguard rather than waste learning materials (e.g., amount of glue, paper, tape, etc., to use; putting lids, caps, tops on such learning materials as markers, pens, bottles, jars, cans, etc.).
7. Draft an agreement with the student stipulating what behavior is required (e.g., having appropriate learning materials for specific learning activities ) and which reinforcement will be implemented when the agreement has been met.
8. Get the student to create and keep one list of things to do to organize and focus on what needs to be accomplished for a specific task, day, etc.
9. Consider using an education app to help the student sharpen their organizational skills. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.

Are you looking for strategies to help your students enhance their memory skills? If so, keep reading.

1. Provide instructions, explanations, and instructional content in a transparent manner and at an appropriate pace.
2. Get the student to practice taking notes for specific information the student needs to remember.
3. Teach the student to identify keywords and phrases related to the information to increase long-term memory skills.
4. Make sure the student is paying attention to the source of information (e.g., eye contact is being made, hands are free of learning materials, the student is looking at task, etc.).
5. Minimize distracting stimuli when information is being presented, the student is studying, etc.
6. Separate at several points during the presentation of information to check the student’s comprehension.
7. Provide the student one task to perform at a time. Present the next task only when the student has successfully finished the prior task.
8. Get the student to memorize the first sentence or line of poems, songs, etc. As the student experiences success, require more to be memorized.
9. Teach the student information-gathering skills (e.g., listen carefully, write down essential points, ask for clarification, wait until all information is received before beginning, etc.).
10. Get the student to repeat/rephrase directions, explanations, and instructions.
11. Minimize the emphasis on competition. Competitive learning activities may cause the student to hurry and begin without listening.
12. Give the student environmental signals and prompts designed to enable success in the classroom (e.g., posted rules, schedule of daily activities, steps for performing tasks, etc.).
13. Give the student written lists of things to do, learning materials needed, etc.
14. Provide consistency in sequential learning activities to enable the likelihood of student success (e.g., the student has math every day at one o’clock, recess at two o’clock, etc.).
15. Separate sequences into units and have the student learn one unit at a time.
16. Create a routine (schedule) for the student to follow in performing learning activities, tasks, etc. (e.g., listen to the person speaking to you, wait until instructions are finished, make sure you have all appropriate learning materials, etc.).
17. Teach the student to use associative signals or mnemonic devices to remember sequences.
18. Involve the student in learning to remember sequences by having the student physically perform sequential learning activities (e.g., operating equipment, following recipes, solving math problems, etc.).
19. Get the student to be responsible for helping a peer remember sequences.
20. Utilize concrete examples and experiences in sharing information with the student.
21. Consider using an education app to help the student enhance their memory. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.

Are you looking for strategies to improve your child’s memory power? If so, keep reading.

1. Get the student to highlight or summarize information that should be remembered.
2. Get the student to repeat to themselves info just heard to help remember the information.
3. Make sure the student is not required to learn more information than they are capable of learning at any time.
4. Make sure the student has sufficient chances for the repetition of information through various experiences to enable memory.
5. Draft an agreement with the student stipulating what behavior is required (e.g., following one-step instructions, two-step instructions, etc.) and which reinforcement will be implemented when the agreement has been met.
6. Praise the student for demonstrating short-term or long-term memory skills based on the duration of time the student can be successful. As the student shows success, slowly increase the duration of time required for reinforcement.
7. Praise the student for demonstrating short-term or long-term memory skills: (a) give the student a concrete reward (e.g., privileges, line leading, passing out learning materials, 10 minutes of free time, etc.), or (b) give the student an informal reward (e.g., praise, handshake, smile, etc.).
8. Consider using an education app to help the student enhance their memory. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.

Are you trying to find ways to help messy kids organize their schoolwork? If so, keep reading.

1. Create a routine (schedule) to be followed for organization and appropriate use of work learning materials. Give the student their routine (schedule) in writing and review it often.
2. Designate the student’s organizational duties in the classroom (e.g., equipment, software learning materials, etc.).
3. Create classroom rules: • Get appropriate learning materials. • Complete every assignment. • Complete assignments quietly. • Remain in your seat. • Finish tasks. • Meet task expectations. Examine rules often. Praise students for following the rules.
4. Assess the appropriateness of the task to ascertain (a) if the task is too easy, (b) if the task is too complicated, and (c) if the duration of time scheduled to finish the task is sufficient.
5. Support the student in organizing learning materials. As the student shows success, slowly decrease the assistance you provide and require the student to assume more responsibility for organization independently.
6. Provide the student one task to perform at a time. Present the next task after the student has finished the prior task in an organized way.
7. Get the student to gather all the learning materials appropriate to work on a project, task, etc., to lessen the need to search for learning materials.
8. Make sure the student knows that work that was not finished because appropriate learning materials were not brought to a specific learning experience will need to be finished during leisure or break time.
9. Get the student to discard things/paperwork that have no future use.
10. Minimize the number of learning materials for which the student is responsible. As the student shows appropriate responsibility for learning materials, increase the number of learning materials for which the student is responsible.
11. Do not give the student additional learning materials if they fail to care for learning materials properly.
12. Get the student to create a routine (schedule) to follow before coming to class (e.g., check what learning experience is next, determine what learning materials are appropriate, collect learning materials, etc.).
13. Get the student to select a peer, friend, etc., who exhibits the capacity and ability to organize a task prior to beginning it. Get the student to observe that person and try to model the behaviors they use to organize tasks.
14. Get the student to tag all personal items with their name.
15. Urge the student to develop an understanding of the consequences of their behavior by writing down or talking through problems that may happen due to disorganization (e.g., missed tasks, unfinished projects, misplaced textbooks, etc.).
16. Make sure that failure to have appropriate learning materials results in loss of opportunity to participate in learning activities or a failing grade for that day’s learning experience (e.g., art, home economics, industrial arts, physical education, etc.).
17. Get the student to create a list of learning materials appropriate for each class (e.g., band instrument, gym clothes, calculator, etc.).
18. Get the student to organize significant tasks/projects by dividing them into small segments. Establish deadlines and reward the student after finishing each segment of the task.
19. Get the student to perform one task or step of a significant project at a time.
20. Get the student to question any instructions or expectations they do not understand.
21. Consider using an education app to help the student sharpen their organizational skills. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.

21 Ways Help Learners Get Organized

Do you need advice on helping your students get organized? If so, keep reading.

1. Embody being prepared/organized for specific learning activities.
2. Select a peer to model who is organized/prepared for specific learning activities for the student.
3. Train the student to carry essential things in a backpack or binder.
4. Get the student to create a routine (schedule) and utilize a weekly schedule. Get the student to create an organizational chart for daily tasks to be finished.
5. Talk regularly with the student to encourage organizational skills and appropriate use of learning materials.
6. Get the student to create a routine (schedule) to follow before changing learning activities (e.g., put away learning materials, gather learning materials for the next learning experience, make a list of what learning materials need to be replenished, etc.).
7. Restrict the student’s freedom to use school property if they are unable to remember to return borrowed things.
8. Restrict the student’s access to learning materials (i.e., give the student only those learning materials appropriate at any given time).
9. Make sure that all personal items are tagged with the student’s name.
10. Get the student to organize their book bag every day before going home. Put paperwork in folders, prioritize the next day’s tasks, and update their calendar.
11. Make sure the student knows that they must replace things that are lost.
12. Limit learning materials needed for specific learning activities.
13. Observe the student’s performance in learning activities or tasks to make sure the student begins, works on, and finishes a task promptly so that they can go to the next learning experience in their routine (schedule).
14. Give a color-coded organizational system (e.g., notebook, folders, etc.).
15. Teach the student to take care of personal items and school learning materials (e.g., keep property with him/her, know where the property is at all times, secure property in lockers, leave the valuable property at home, etc.).
16. Give sufficient time for the conclusion of learning activities.
17. Give an organizer for learning materials to be kept inside the student’s desk.
18. Require that lost or damaged property be replaced by the student. If the student cannot replace the property, compensation can be made by working at school.
19. Give the student a container in which to carry the appropriate learning materials for specific learning activities (e.g., backpack, book bag, briefcase, etc.).
20. Give the student a list of appropriate learning materials for each learning experience of the day.
21. Consider using an education app to help the student sharpen their organizational skills. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.

Are you looking for strategies to help students locate places on the school campus? If so, keep reading.

1. Get the student to question any directions, explanations, and instructions they do not understand.

2. Get a peer to escort the student when trying to find places in the school building.

3. Select a peer to model discovering places in the school building for the student.

4. Take the student on a personal tour of several places in the school building.

5. Restrict the number of places the student is required to find on their own. As the student shows success, slowly increase the number of places.

6. Create clear, concise written instructions or a map for the student to use to find places in the school building.

7. Create a color code for places in the school building (e.g., boys’ restroom doors painted red, girls’ restroom doors painted yellow, and names of other places, etc.).

8. Give universal symbols at places throughout the school building (e.g., restroom, cafeteria, library, etc.).

9. Get the student to run errands to specific places in the school building for practice in discovering places in the school building.

10. Notify other staff members that the student has difficulty discovering places in the school building, so assistance and supervision may be given.

11. Make sure the behavioral requirements are appropriate for the student’s abilities (e.g., discovering a place alone, discovering places with other students around, etc.).

12. Teach the student to ask for instructions when they have difficulty discovering places in the school building.

13. Be firm, fair, and consistent in applying consequences for behavior (e.g., appropriate behavior receives positive consequences; unacceptable behavior receives negative consequences).

14. Find regular routes the student is required to use to find places in the school building.

15. Get the student to carry a map of places in the school building.

Are you looking for strategies to help your students understand abstract concepts? If so, keep reading.

1. Utilize abstract ideas to describe concrete objects in their surroundings (e.g., bigger, smaller, square, triangle, etc.).

2. Tag concrete objects in the classroom with signs that express abstract ideas (e.g., bigger, square, triangle, etc.).

3. Utilize concrete examples when teaching abstract ideas (e.g., numbers of objects to express more than or less than; rulers and yardsticks to express ideas of height, width, etc.).

4. Play Simon Saysto enable the comprehension of abstract ideas (e.g., “Find the largest desk,” “Touch something that is a rectangle,” etc.).

5. Organize a scavenger hunt. Get the student to look for the smallest pencil, tallest boy, etc., in the classroom.

6. Teach shapes using ordinary objects in their surroundings (e.g., round clocks, rectangular desks, square tiles on the floor, etc.).

7. Assess the appropriateness of having the student learn abstract ideas at this time.

8. Teach ideas (e.g., dimensionality, size, shape, etc.) one at a time before pairing the ideas.

9. Give repeated physical demonstrations of abstract ideas (e.g., find things far away from and near to the student, find a small box in a large room, etc.).

10. Daily, examine abstract ideas that have been previously introduced. Introduce new abstract ideas only after the student has a mastery of those already presented.

11. Select a peer to spend time each day with the student pointing out abstract ideas in the classroom (e.g., the rectangular light switch plate, the round light fixture, the tallest girl, etc.).

12. Use concrete objects (e.g., boxes for dimensionality, family members for size, distances in the classroom for space, cookie cutters for shape, etc.) when introducing abstract ideas. Do not introduce abstract ideas by using their descriptive titles such as square, rectangle, triangle, etc., without a concrete object.

13. Get the student to match the names of abstract ideas (e.g., square, circle, etc.) with objects (e.g., floor tile, clock, etc.).

14. Provide the student instruction-following tasks (e.g., “Go to the swing that is the farthest away.” “Go to the nearest sandbox.” etc.).

15. Get the student to sort left and right gloves, shoes, hand and foot paper cut-outs, etc.

16. Consider using video to help you teach abstract concepts to kids. Click here to read an article that we wrote on the topic.

15 Secrets to Teaching Abstract Topics to Kids

Are you looking for the secret to teaching abstract concepts to kids? If so, keep reading.

1. Get the student to perform spatial relationships (e.g., have the student stand near the teacher, far from the teacher, on a table, under a table, etc.).

2. Get the student to question any directions, explanations, or instructions they do not understand.

3. Use spatial relationships that happen naturally in their surroundings (e.g., a bird flying “over” a tree, a squirrel running “under” a bush, etc.).

4. Get the student to follow map instructions to practice more abstract ideas such as left and right, north, south, east, and west. Begin with a map of the school and progress to a map of the community, state, nation, etc., with more complex instructions to follow.

5. Teach the student relationships of directionality by placing paper bands tagged “left” and “right” around their wrists. Withdraw the paper bands when the student can successfully find left and right.

6. Utilize a scale, ruler, measuring cups, etc., to teach measurement ideas.

7. Refrain from the conundrum of the mirror image by standing next to the student when giving right and left instructions.

8. Do not require the student to learn more information than they are capable of learning at any time.

9. Utilize real coins and dollar bills, clocks, etc., to teach abstract ideas of money, telling time, etc.

10. Utilize the terms right and left as part of the instructions you give to the student (e.g., refer to the windows on the left side of the room, the smartboard on the right side of the room, etc.).

11. Get the student to practice following written instructions. Train the student to make marks or images on the right, left, middle, top, and bottom portions of the paper according to the instructions given.

12. Correlate what the student has learned in one setting or situation to other situations (e.g., vocabulary words learned should be pointed out in readings, math problems, story writing, etc.).

13. Make sure the student is paying attention to the source of information (e.g., eye contact is being made, hands are free of learning materials, etc.) when delivering instructions that involve abstract ideas.

14. Tag abstract ideas throughout the classroom (e.g., triangle shapes on the walls, left and right sides of a desk, compass instructions on the walls, etc.) to help the student understand abstract ideas.

15. Consider using video to help you teach abstract concepts to kids. Click here to read an article that we wrote on the topic.

Looking for some tips on helping your disorganized students get organized? If so, keep reading.

1. Inform the student at the end of the class period of learning materials required for specific learning activities the next day (e.g., note sent home, oral reminder, etc.).
2. Give the student a schedule of daily activities so that they know what and how much there is to do in a day.
3. Designate shorter tasks for the student. As the student shows success in organizing academic learning activities, slowly increase the length of tasks over time.
4. Support the student in beginning each task to lessen impulsive behavior.
5. Give the student a checklist (e.g., routine or schedule learning activities, learning materials needed, and steps to follow).
6. Give the student stated criteria for acceptable work (e.g., neatness, etc.).
7. Praise those students in the classroom who are prepared/organized for specific learning activities.
8. Give the student more workspace (e.g., a bigger desk or table at which to work).
9. Give the student only those learning materials they need to finish a task (e.g., pencil, paper, dictionary, handwriting sample, etc.). Be sure that the student has only the appropriate learning materials on their desk.
10. Limit learning materials that need to be kept inside the student’s desk.
11. Give the student the structure for all academic learning activities (e.g., specific instructions, routine/schedule format for tasks, time units, etc.).
12. Get the student to keep a task notebook that indicates those learning materials needed for each class.
13. Give time at several points throughout the day for the student to organize their learning materials (e.g., before school, beginning of the class period, break time, recess, lunch, end of the day, etc.).
14. Make sure that the student is not accidentally reinforced for losing learning materials. Give the student used learning materials, copies of the learning materials, etc., rather than new learning materials if they fail to care for the learning materials suitably.
15. Establish a time each week for the student to organize their locker.
16. Converse with the student to explain (a) what they are doing wrong (e.g., failing to bring appropriate learning materials for specific learning activities ) and (b) what they should be doing (e.g., having appropriate learning materials for specific learning activities ).
17. Require that tasks done incorrectly, for any reason, be redone.
18. Get the student to create monthly calendars to keep track of essential activities, due dates, tasks, etc.
19. Observe the student while they are doing schoolwork to monitor quality.
20. Give storage space for learning materials the student is not using.
21. Consider using an education app to help the student sharpen their organizational skills. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.

Are you looking for strategies to help you sharpen your students organizational skills? If so, keep reading.

1. Demonstrate organization and appropriate use of learning materials (e.g., putting learning materials away before retrieving others, having a space for all learning materials, keeping an organized desk area, following the daily schedule, etc.).
2. Let logical consequences happen (e.g., work not done during work time must be made up during leisure time, learning materials not maintained will be lost) because of the student’s failure to organize or use learning materials appropriately.
3. Let the student finish a learning experience unless it is troublesome to the schedule.
4. Assess the clarity and quality of directions, explanations, and instructions given to the student.
5. Designate a peer to work with the student on specific learning activities to make sure the student has the learning materials appropriate to do the learning experience.
6. Urge the student to create a routine (schedule) of asking themselves, “Do I have everything?” before leaving home each morning.
7. Get the student to leave the appropriate learning materials at specific learning experience areas.
8. Support the student in discovering a system of organization that works best for them (e.g., subject folders, tabbed binder, checklist, etc.).
9. Connect with parents to disseminate information about the student’s progress. The parents may reinforce the student at home for being prepared/organized for specific learning activities at school.
10. Create monthly calendars to keep track of essential activities, due dates, tasks, etc.
11. Do not accept excuses. The student must know that, regardless of the reasons, it is appropriate that they take responsibility for not turning in a math assignment, losing pencils, etc.
12. Get the student to record the number of times they are prepared/organized for specific learning activities.
13. Urge the student to gain an understanding of themselves and their surroundings. Train the student to periodically step back and ask themselves, “What learning materials do I need to finish this task?” “Did I put my task in the correct folder?”
14. Get the student to list five attributes of an organized person. Get the student to select one of those attributes to work on each week for five weeks.
15. Urge the student to keep the appropriate learning materials for specific learning activities together (e.g., gym clothes in a gym bag in the car, backpack with all school-related learning materials by the door, etc.).
16. Minimize distracting stimuli (e.g., place the student on the front row, give the student a table or quiet space away from distractions, etc.). This is used as a way to get rid of distracting stimuli, not as a punishment.
17. Urge the student to manage their everyday lives as if they were self-employed. This should increase their motivation to be organized and fulfill their duties.
18. Urge the student to put objects that should be taken to school in a designated space (e.g., by the door, at the bottom of the stairs, etc.).
19. Select various people (e.g., counselor, paraprofessional, peer, etc.) to help the student keep the organization of tasks, learning materials, etc., at school.
20. Give the student an appropriate space to store/secure personal items (e.g., desk, locker, closet, etc.). Make the student put away all items when not in use.
21. Consider using an education app to help the student sharpen their organizational skills. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.