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Question:
"What type of planner or organizer would you recommend for
kids with LD? The one we get from school
has really small writing areas, making it hard to fit in all the information,
let alone notes back and forth from home and school."
My recommendations:
What most kids need: Big space
to write, securely bound, monthly and weekly views.
What I've tried for
myself and the kids:
Personal Digital Assistants, like Palm Pilots; various
calendars and systems, wall calendars, wipe-off dry erase calendars, etc. Electronic versions of calendars, ranging from
Google Calendar, to the calendar/alarms on my various cell phones, and Skoach, an online calendar/task management system developed in part by well-known and
respected ADHD researcher, Dr.
Kathleen Nadeau. (Also a prior guest on the LD Podcast).
What Really Works for
Me- paper calendar/agenda with both weekly and monthly views. Usually, the medium to large ones give me
enough writing space- mini ones are far too small.
Brands I like:
Mead actually has a a website to help you choose
a planner (I was surprised to find this out!)
The
Quick Notes Calendar from At-A-Glance has weekly and monthly view, along
with plenty of spaces for notes and reminders.
This runs about $20.00
TimeToo has
some interesting looking family trackers, but you kinda have to choose between
weekly on monthly, not both. The RSVP
space on the bottom is a great idea- these are almost perfect.
The GoMom
planner from Daytimer has that weekly/monthly views, and is a good basic
planner-a "mommed" up version of the At A Glance.
Mead Upperclass Student Organizer
- Available plain ($12.99) or with a bungee cord to keep
closed ($13.79) This one can work well
with kids or adults- not a bad choice for that master family calendar.
Secret Indulgence and
Pricey Version- Levenger
has a bunch of interesting products, based on it’s "circa" system- a way you
can pretty much customize notebooks. This
means you can add what you need- to do lists, expense reports, notes, etc. and
rearrange, without losing anything and
maintaining the pages securely fastened together. (If you wanted to try it to see if it works,
the 2008
agenda is down to only $4.95, and might be a good investment if you think
you might like the flexibility it offers.)
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