Executive Functioning for Teens: Staying Organized
This session includes executive functioning activities for teens, helping older students build organization strategies, from to-do lists to color coding, that they can keep up over time. Students consider what makes staying organized hard to sustain, watch a short video, and discuss which strategies fit their own school workload. A quick game asks them to weigh a situation and decide whether a given response would actually help someone stay on track.
Extension activity
- Skill
- Self-Regulation
- Goal
- Executive Functioning
- Grade level
- Middle & High School
Get everything you need to teach the skill
These materials are part of a no-prep session designed by our clinical team, with all the structure, scaffolding, and support you need to teach included.
Engaging materials
Video modeling lessonStaying Organized
In this video, learners will be taught a variety of organizational skills and strategies to ensure their success as they gain more independence and acquire more responsibilities.
- Extension activity
Interactive Worksheet: My Organization Habits
In this matching activity, learners will match the problems with the organization habit that could help prevent the problem in the future.
Plus everything you need to teach them
Warm-up
- Video: 4-7-8 Breathing2:13
- Video: Obstacles into Opportunities Visualization1:19
- Video: Yoga Pose Library
Session Opener
Guiding Question: Is it hard for you to stay organized?
Practice
- Discussion Question
- Role-Play Activity
- Mini Game
How to use it with your students
- 1Watch Play the video modeling lesson so students see the skill in action.
- 2Practice Try the skill together with a discussion prompt, role-play, or mini game.
- 3Extend Use the extension activity to help students carry the skill further.
What's Covered
In this lesson, students learned that staying organized means having a system for keeping up with their responsibilities, like meeting deadlines or keeping a workspace tidy. They practiced naming a specific goal and then choosing a strategy that fit them, such as making a to-do list or breaking a goal into smaller steps. They also talked about how sticking with a strategy day to day makes it work.
Key Terms
- Organizational Strategies
- The specific methods you use to stay on top of your responsibilities, like making a to-do list, breaking a goal into smaller steps, or using labels and reminders. You pick the ones that work best for you and stick with them daily.
- Responsibilities
- The things you're expected to do as you gain more independence, like meeting homework deadlines, keeping your space organized, or doing chores without reminders.
Sample IEP Goal This Session Supports
-
Executive Functioning
Given a multi-step task, learner will use at least one self-selected organizational strategy (e.g., visual planner, breaking the task into steps, visual timer) to initiate and work through the task with decreasing adult support in 4 out of 5 opportunities independently/given X prompt(s).
Send this tip home to support generalization
At home or in the classroom, when a student faces a bigger task, try asking what one small first step could look like and where they want to jot it down. Letting them pick the method helps the habit stick.
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Frequently asked questions
Is this intervention free?
Yes, this ready-to-teach session on Staying Organized is free. You can access this intervention free for 14 days through the Everyday Speech Session Library. Every user gets three free sessions, but you can get more or extend your access by sharing the Session Library with friends and colleagues.
What ages is this for?
These materials are designed for middle and high school students.
What's included?
You'll get access to your choice of warm-up videos, a session opener, a core material on Staying Organized, three practice prompts, and an extension activity, Interactive Worksheet: My Organization Habits.
What skill does this intervention teach?
This ready-to-teach session is on self-regulation - more specifically, executive functioning.
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