Target Selection and Task Analysis:

In what contexts does the student need to display this skill, now and in the future?

The obvious answer to this question is simple: the individual needs these skills in all aspects of his life. However, your goal will be to break this down, to teach a system for organizing space and materials in one setting. After achieving a measure of success, move the system to various other tasks and settings so that the individual has established routines of personal success in using the system.

There have been many individuals who show initial resistance to the consistent use of visual supports for organized performance. Expecting performance with visual supports in multiple situations, especially without consistent success, can lead to resistance. As the routines become established, there have been many individuals who end up depending on and expressing a need for those same supports that they fought initially.

How can you break this skill down?

The organization of space and materials into teachable units depends on the particular context and materials.  The process of organization for school, work or community environments involves these steps:

• Identifying the task or job, the tools and materials that will be used
• Determining where to place or house the various materials/tools for easy access and for efficiency in usage, (involves asking ‘where will I use this?, where can I place it so I can use it quickly and find it quickly?, etc.)
• Creating the organizational frame for the tools and materials
• Using the organizational frame, assuring that tools and materials always go back to the same designated spots or areas for future access.

Note that these steps are the same process whether you are dealing with a student who works in merchandise processing, completes restaurant duties or manages his work materials in 8 high school classes.

For most of our students, the first three steps can prove overwhelming. Oftentimes, the instructor carries out a major portion of these first three steps with the student in priming and in practice and instruction of the use of the organizational structure. However, with some students the goal will be to help them set up their own structures for organization with new tasks. Use of this consistent framework may help the student become more actively engaged in good decision making about the organization of the space and materials for his own activities.

Consider this example (individualized for a capable student) of how you might break down the skill of self-organizing academic materials for one class.  Note that the effort in this example is for the student to be actively involved in these steps so that he becomes comfortable using the system independently. Some students will require more assistance from the instructor to address the first three steps of the process. Some will need a much simpler system with fewer judgments and categories.

1) Identify the task and materials you will use: English 10 – 3-ring notebook, dividers, pencils, textbooks, etc.

2-3) Determine & create the organizational frame for keeping up with all his work in class:

• Label three dividers: “Class notes and handouts,” “homework,” “tests and quizzes”
• Insert labeled dividers into 3-ring binder
• Label front of 3-ring binder (course name, student name)
• Determine if the student needs a semester calendar on the inside front cover of the notebook
• Determine if the student needs a special area at the front of the binder labeled “To Do!” This front folder would contain any classwork or homework that needs to be completed that evening/weekend.
• Determine if the student needs a special area at the back of the binder labeled “Turn in!” This folder would contain any classwork or homework that needs to be submitted to the instructor next time.
• Insert blank notebook paper into class notes section
• Define a procedure for each new sheet developed by the student or provided by the instructor: The student should put his name and the date at top of handout, notes, worksheet paper. (Emphasize the why? If the item is not dated, the student will not know how to sequence it within a class binder.) Identify where and if this will be posted in the notebook!

4) Whenever a new sheet is presented:

• Implement the ‘new sheet’ procedure
• Determine which section it goes in (is it class notes/instructor handout, a returned test or quiz, or homework?)
• Place it in the correct section - Insert that sheet in behind the previous day’s material and before the next day’s material. Or, does it go in the front “To Do!” folder to be retrieved later that day?

This sequence may sound disarmingly complex for some students and it is! The instructor’s job is to assess the student’s capacities and design a system that allows the student to self-organize at a level within his capacity.  Another student may only be able to handle a pocket folder in the front of his 3-ring binder. The two pockets are marked as ‘work to do’ and ‘finished work.’ There is a pencil pouch and notebook paper inside the binder. That could be the structure that the student can learn to manage. In other cases, you may work to create a structure for the student’s book bag.

Always consider not only what you are teaching now but how the student will use this structure in the future.

What sub-skill should you target first for the student to use? Given what the student can do presently, how will you present the task so that the student can perform steps within his capacity while learning a new step? 

Visual supports, at their best, are tools that support self-organization in one form or another. Your task is to determine which aspects of self-organization around space and materials are needed first. Will you need to ‘walk’ the student through the first three steps of the process and instruct the student in how to use the visual supports independently?

Choose tasks that do not require the use of so many materials that the student will become overwhelmed. Choose tasks that you can clearly structure so that the materials are organized and labeled, so that instructions are readily available and sequenced for success, and so that the student has easy access to what he needs (or knows exactly where to find it). Design the structures and get agreement from the student to use those structures. Your natural urge may be to target the skills and tasks that are most problematic for the student. However, carefully consider how much the student can handle.

Just as importantly, choose tasks and structures that you can see the student using in future environments and with future tasks. Your near-term goal is to assure that the student can use the visual supports to work independently. Your long-term goal is to help the student use this process and visual supports in multiple situations to organize his own space and materials.