Executive Function: Planning

This week we are going to talk about planning. What is planning? According to Merriam-Webster “it is the act or process of making or carrying out plans

specifically: the establishment of goals, policies, and procedures for a social or economic unit” now we are going to focus our attention on the first part of that along with the establishment of goals and procedures for this discussion. As I have previously mentioned, one of the things that people with ADHD are very good at is living in the present moment. The present moment means that you are just reacting to what is currently within your orbit or attention. The danger with this is that we live in a world that is pretty heavily scheduled which means planning needs to be implemented often times just to get through the day. Hungry and no food in the house? You have to make sure the grocery store is open or the restaurant you need to get takeout from isn’t closed. Planning requires forethought. In fact before a plan can be put into place there needs to be a goal or a direction. This is often the piece that a lot of people get tripped up with because the plan is the roadmap to a destination but is useless if you don’t know your destination. This means the first step is outlining a purpose or goal for students so everything that is actually interconnected becomes interconnected. They are much more willing to create and follow through on a plan where they have skin in the game. This can be started with children at very young ages with fun things like going to a theme park or even a toy store. Let them map out and visualize what they are going to do. As they get older that planning can then get turned loose on projects and essays for school. It also will lower their anxiety because they know if they have a plan they will be ok and they know how to make a plan. This is why teachers love rubrics. The problem is they think they make the requirements obvious but they often don’t. This is why the best things  are examples or templates of how assignments or projects should be done. These are things that students should be asking for from their teachers. If they have older siblings or friends who have taken the class before that is also helpful. Failing those or if the plan is for something entirely unrelated to school then the student needs to visualize and possibly run through any potential roadblocks and brainstorm solutions before they happen. This is a way to anchor them in confidence and self-sufficiency for later life.