Repeat after me: routine, structure, consistency

Some of you know that I recently traveled to a big teacher conference where I had the opportunity to offer a presentation on Executive Function. The room was overflowing with more than 140 educators from all over the United States. The energy in the room was buzzing!

Hundreds (maybe thousands?) of educators were at this conference to learn how to better support themselves and their students. And let me tell you: it was inspiring. That overflowing room I mentioned...if it had only been bigger, another 100 people would have joined us!

All of this to say: teachers want to know more about brains. They want to learn strategies to use in the classrooms that will help students who are struggling. (By the way, ALL students will benefit from these strategies.) I am so grateful because students need this!

At the end of the talk, I asked for feedback. What resonated with you the most? What’s the key idea that you want to remember? What’s one takeaway? Here are just a few:

·      Just knowing what Executive Function is!

·      These are skills that can and must be explicitly taught.

·      The importance of chunking instructions into small (sometimes very small) bits

·      Figure out ways to make the invisible visible

·      Structure, routine, consistency

It’s this last one that I want to talk about today: structure, routine, consistency. It came up over and over again. Whenever possible, it is so important to have a predictable routine – at school, at work, in the morning, in the evening, for anything that feels especially challenging. A lot of brain energy goes into learning a new system every time. All brains will benefit from structure, routine and consistency.

I know, I know. Some brains that struggle with Executive Function crave novelty. They get bored if they’re doing the same thing all the time. This is reality for many.

It reminds me of an adult client of mine who once told me,

“I hate routines. But I need routines.”

Her brain did not really want to create a routine for her work tasks. Her brain did not really want to create a structure for working from home. Her brain prefers novelty and going with the flow. But she recognized that her brain needed structure, routine and consistency, so that she could be successful at work.

This also reminds me of an Instagram post from @ADHDjesse (You can find it here). It’s the same idea. He says, “I hate deadlines (but I need deadlines). I hate structure (but I need structure).”

In the classroom, this is especially important for the success of an entire class! Teachers, if you are reading this, start small. But do start creating routine and structure for your students. Their brains might not always love it, but their brains need it!

And parents, the same thing is important for your homes.  

Repeat after me: structure, routine, consistency. Brains need structure, routine and consistency.

But give yourself permission to start small (even very, very, very small).

By now, perhaps you know my mantra? Change happens little by little.