Planning and prioritization are critical to completing tasks throughout life. Planning helps children determine how to complete projects and assignments, while prioritization is key to determining which homework is most important to complete. While parents and teachers often provide this structure for children by setting interim deadlines, being able to exercise these skills independently is crucial to success.
Signs Your Child Struggles with Planning and Prioritization
If your child has difficulty with any of the following areas (organized by grade level), they may have planning and prioritization challenges:
Preschool/Kindergarten
- Finishing tasks or activities prior to starting another one
- Following a brief routine or plan
- Completing simple art projects with multiple steps
First-Third Grade
- Completing multistep projects
- Saving money for an inexpensive toy
- Finishing two- to three-step assignments with assistance
Fourth-Fifth Grade
- Making plans to go to a movie or other event with a friend
- Saving money for a more expensive purchase
- Completing a long-term school project with the steps broken down by a teacher or parent
Sixth-Eighth Grade
- Researching a topic online
- Making plans for an extracurricular activity
- Finishing a long-term school project with minimal help
Strategies to Address Prioritizing and Planning Challenges
The following strategies can be implemented to help your child if they struggle with prioritizing and planning:
- Write out series of steps or checklists for tasks around the house and school assignments
- Invite your child to help in creating plans by asking “what do you think we should do first/next?”
- Use activities or toys your child wants to help practice setting up plans (e.g., creating a plan to build a fort)
- Provide prompts for what your child needs to do (e.g., “what do we need to do prior to playing video games?”
By following these strategies, you can help your child improve their ability to prioritize and plan, key skills to success.
Reference:
Dawson, P., & Guare, R. (2009). Smart but scattered. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.