 |
|
|
|
|
Organizing
the ADD Client #2 Clients with Attention Deficit Disorder(ADD) vary in organizing styles, just as any clients do. What most people with ADD have in common is impulsivity---they often act before they think. Additional symptoms are hyperactivity and inattentiveness. Often, ADD clients have been able to function in chaos for a number of years, perhaps even their whole life. By the time that they hire a professional organizer they may actually be under pressure from a spouse, boss or situation to actually find some "order" in the pile of "stuff" on their desk, floor or closet. (The above is expressed with caution, as there are other ADD people who absolutely cannot function without "order" of their belongings.) The bottom line to finding organizing solutions for the ADD client is to help them define the categories in their systems, (i.e. filing, storage, tracking), based on how they actually think and operate. As professionals, we help them by supporting them through the creative process involved in discovering how they actually function in relationship to the organizing project at hand. By looking at paper flow in their office, for example, we might ask questions about that which is novel or exciting for them, encouraging them to be more involved in the process of setting up any kind of filing or tracking system. What file name prompts them, or clues them in, to remembering the contents of a specific file or drawer? We may even suggest ideas, such as naming a file cabinet drawer, "fun drawer," knowing that all of the contents in that drawer will be associated with contents that are fun for them. Another example is, color coding files by association, perhaps having the purple folders be the "fun" section, as purple is a "fun" color to them. Finding the way that the ADD client can be motivated to remember where items are both found and put away is a great place for us to start. That way, whatever the system is, it is not just one more thing on their plate of things to learn or accomplish--it actually has meaning for them. As Lynn Weiss, Ph.D. says in ADD on the Job, Making ADD Work for You, "all the wonderful filing systems in the world will not help you stay organized if you don't think the same way as the system is set up." Of course, as professional organizers we may apply this same concept to the multitude of projects in which we are involved in organizing. Seek
Solutions
Contact us at findit@seeksolutions.com.
All Rights Reserved. © 1995-2004 Shannon Seek, CPCC, Seek Solutions. |