Organizing the Child's Class Notes: One of the Most Important Keys to Academic Success

Many children with ADHD, especially young boys, have a laborious time writing by hand. Let us talk about the children in grades sixth to eighth who are generally required to take notes in class. Oftentimes, the students are not aware that a pop quiz will depend on those class notes. Many of "our children" begin to take notes and by the time the teacher is at the end of the second sentence, they are still writing the teacher’s words from the middle of the first sentence. Additionally, it is difficult for some children to multi-task and listen to the teacher while at the same time making a decision on which are important things to write down and which are not so.

I am in favor of having the child type the class notes on a computer (and one would hope that your child’s accommodations would allow for this method). Then, the child saves them on a file on the classroom computer (or his own laptop if this is the case in your school), saves the notes on a flash drive and/or emails them to himself. You know how fast these kids can facilitate these procedures. The child then prints the class notes out and brings them home in a folder or prints them out at home.

THIS IS THE KEY: After they arrive home, they IMMEDIATELY print out the class notes for each subject (if they have not already done so) or hole punch the class notes they brought home and place them in a flexible binder, preferably a different color for each academic subject.

The important point about the class notes in these binders is that the child can go over them briefly either the night before class, or optimally, as they are having breakfast, and are immediately reminded of what the specific teacher taught the previous day. If the teacher gives the class a pop quiz, then the children are prepared. They will do better on their quizzes, which will build better self-esteem and confidence.

I KNOW that this method of organizing their class notes seems complicated, but trust me, after a few times it will go smoothly and the child, the parents and the teachers will be very happy that the child is more organized.