The Do’s and Don’ts of Checklists That Work

For students with ADHD or executive function challenges, managing daily tasks for school and home can feel pretty overwhelming. For one reason, they tend to have underdeveloped working memory skills. This can influence many aspects of their life, from struggling to track assignments to misplacing materials to falling behind on daily responsibilities. While checklists are often suggested as a go-to tool for working memory support, they will only be effective if the student understands how to use and apply them. So, how can you make checklists more effective, less overwhelming, and actually productive for your child? Let’s take a look at the do’s and don’ts of checklists that ACTUALLY work.

DON’T: Overdo it. Expecting your child to jump right in and use a checklist for everything is an unreasonable expectation.

DO: Start by introducing 1-2 simple checklists so your child can feel success. You can offer scaffolding and support in other areas while they work on developing this new skill. Once they have mastered their introductory checklists, you can explore adding more!

DON’T: Only use checklists as to-do lists. Children should have the opportunity to see the function of checklists in multiple settings.

DO: Create checklists for important items to remember and routines to follow. Checklists can be used to make sure kids follow all steps while learning a new routine or to make sure they have all of their materials or equipment for an activity!

DON’T: Make one long list of tasks to complete. This can be overwhelming and cause confusion when trying to prioritize deadlines and due dates.

DO: Create an individual checklist for each aspect of life. Whether it be school-related, extracurricular, or personal, separate tasks into individual categories. This will help students prioritize tasks based on level of importance (i.e. school work should be completed before a fun personal project).

DON’T: Tuck checklists away in a folder or drawer. If they’re kept out of sight, they will most likely be kept out of mind.

DO: Keep each checklist organized and in a designated spot. Help children by placing checklists in common areas, or related areas, where they can easily access them as part of their normal routine. For example, a checklist posted next to a backpack may help your child remember to pack all of their belongings before leaving for school. If beneficial, lists can also be transformed into transportable bag tags or eventually put in electronic format on a phone for older kids.

DON’T: Only use checklists once per week. New habits are difficult to form if practiced infrequently.

DO: Encourage your child to check and revise their lists at least once per day so they can finish up or reassign any uncompleted tasks and prepare for the next day! Build a consistent routine at a fitting time each day. For example, it may be appropriate to check a “Turn In” list right after school before leaving campus to catch any missed items.

DON’T: Simply make a list. A list is a great starting point, but simply creating one does not teach kids how to use it.

DO: Model how to use a checklist and practice with your child. Physically checking items off on a list will clarify what is left and also feel rewarding!

DON’T: Expect children to be able to complete all of their tasks or prioritize their schedules independently. Executive functioning skills take practice and need to be taught! 

DO: Have weekly planning meetings to go over your child’s responsibilities. This is a great way to communicate expectations for the week, check school grade postings for missing items, and share family events/reminders. It also provides an opportunity for you to model how to create checklists for the week ahead. Try using the think-aloud strategy to demonstrate how your brain is processing information as you create lists.

Just remember, not everyone has fully developed working memory skills. Checklists can be a great support to help kids manage their daily to-do's but they might need to practice and try different strategies until they find some that work!

Written by Ami Z. and Krista G.

Strategies to Improve Memory and Retention for Exams

Test-taking can be quite difficult for students if their foundational memory and retrieval skills are weak. Luckily, there are an abundance of strategies out there to help improve memory and retention of academic concepts. According to Judy Willis, a master in the neuroscience of learning, “The more regions of the brain that store data about a subject, the more interconnection there is.” This idea is so vital in thinking about the way we have our children work on memorization and retention of new information for exams. The key is to choose not just one method to improve these skills, but to apply several to create interconnections in the brain and reinforce understanding and retention of what is being learned. Students can use these five strategies to improve their memory and retain information in preparation for their tests.

Setting the stage

We’ve all been there before…it’s the night before an exam and your child hasn’t even looked at the information once…so it’s time to cram. Understandably, this is not the best way for them to retain learned information. Strategies to support memory and retention will only be useful if the brain receives information in a well rested state and in digestible pieces. Students benefit greatly from creating a study schedule, chunking information to be learned over time and using the power of sleep. A couple of weeks before a scheduled test, setting aside even just 10-15 minutes a night to review information is very beneficial. Getting a good night’s sleep after studying has also been shown to improve memory. Breaking down the process of studying this way not only makes it less overwhelming, but also converts the information to our long-term memory much better.

Writing it Out

Let’s say a student has to read the next 4 chapters of their book for English class for homework. Then they go to school the next day, there’s a pop quiz over the material and they can’t remember a thing. Oftentimes, when students are just reading a book or textbook, they tend to go on autopilot and not truly absorb the information being presented. That’s why taking notes, especially in one’s own words, can help to improve the understanding of the key concepts and events. One example of “writing it out” might include taking notes during lessons at school and then at the end of each week creating flashcards that summarize all of that week’s notes. Another example is to jot down all of the key events, characters or important ideas at the end of nightly reading assignments. Creating visuals, like mind maps, or drawings that represent concepts is another way to engage different parts of the brain retain new information.

Using Memorization Tricks

Mnemonics and songs are wonderful ways to help improve memorization, especially of long lists of things that need to be remembered. ‘Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally’ to learn the order of operations is likely the most common mnemonic device that everyone learns in grade school. But mnemonic devices can be applied across all subjects to help memorize lists, orders and details. Creating a song or jingle can be especially helpful when memorizing math facts or math concepts.

Creating a Self-Test

It is not enough (for most people) to simply read through a set of flashcards five times and expect to have all of that information stored and ready to pull out in a testing situation. The idea of self-testing is a crucial one to enhance memorization and knowledge of what concepts need to be studied more and which ones are already mastered. There are now great websites, like Quizlet, where students can input terms, definitions, concepts, etc. and the website will create a quiz or test based on the details provided. Alternatively, students can ask a friend or family member to quiz them for a more interactive approach!

Teaching it to Someone Else

Playing the role of a teacher has to be one of the best ways to truly know if students understand a concept or piece of information. Try teaching it to a friend or family member. Being able to teach something to someone else means that you yourself must have a very solid understanding of the ideas at hand. This might be a good final step in the studying or memorization process!

There are many different strategies out there to help retain more information. It is not necessary to use ALL of these each time, but it is beneficial to experiment with different methods and find which ones work the best for each unique individual!

Written by Laine J.

Tips and Tricks to Strengthen Working Memory in Math

Of all of the executive functioning skills required to succeed in mathematics, working memory may be one of the most important! Working memory refers to how the brain uses, holds, processes and manipulates the information stored in our short-term memory. Working memory allows us to plan, problem solve and reason, all of which go hand-in-hand with the necessary skills to complete a math problem. Let’s dive into some tips and tricks which can help to strengthen working memory, specifically in relation to the world of math!

Play Games

There are many popular games that can be played as a family that utilize working memory. Games like Concentration, Uno, Crazy Eights and Go Fish all require the players to use their working memory system. Simon Says, Follow the Beat, Tongue Twisters, puzzles and brain teasers are other excellent examples of activities that can be used to strengthen working memory. In many of these activities, our brains must actively recall information, and in-turn manipulate it to make the next move!

Put Your Child in the Teacher Role

When working through a new math concept, once a child has begun to master the concept at hand, they should attempt to teach someone else how to do it. When the child becomes the teacher, they are switching into a more active role and thus enhancing their working memory skills. For example, if a child is working on adding fractions with a different denominator, they should be able to walk someone else through each step necessary to solve this kind of problem and explain the “why” behind it.

Practice Every Day

For things like math facts (simple and quick math problems across the four operations), practicing every day can help to reduce the strain on working memory capacity. The more automatic these quick facts become, the more space is freed up in the brain to utilize other math skills and solve larger and more complex mathematical equations and word problems.

Visualize

When working on word problems, it is best to come up with various visualization strategies that can be used to solve each problem. Examples of visualization strategies in math might be drawing an array, making pictures or using math manipulatives.

Make a Plan

A great general rule of thumb for math problems (especially those tricky word problems) is to NEVER leave math in your head. This means write down as much as possible. Circle, underline or highlight the key words in a math problem and then make a plan to solve. Write out each step as a number sentence, and use the visualization tools mentioned above to help solve the problem.

Practice Yoga & Mindfulness

Research has shown activities like yoga and mindfulness can improve working memory. Both of these practices aim to draw our attention to how and when our mind wanders, which in turn can help increase focus and the working memory function of the brain. There are many wonderful YouTube channels for kids yoga, such as Cosmic Yoga that can be completed daily. Alternately, try simple breathing exercises in the car on the way to school as a way to practice mindfulness each day.

Use Mnemonics and Songs

Making a mnemonic device or turning something that needs to be memorized into a song are two more fantastic ways to strengthen working memory. The most famous mnemonics device in Math is PEMDAS with “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” as the words to remember the order of operations. There are also fun and silly songs on YouTube to help learn and memorize math facts. Putting information into a catchy song allows our brain to more easily store and remember it!

Written by Laine J.