How:

Does your child?

• frequently lose or forget work,

• have a messy desk/room/backpack,

• have difficulty managing time and often requires extra time to complete tasks,

• frequently misplaces clothes or other items,

• have distractible and chaotic morning routines,

• drags homework out much longer than it needs to be,

• need constant reminders and "nagging" to start and complete chores,

• have emotional outbursts with changes in routine or if something does go their way.

The online learning session is available here and is led by Registered Saskatchewan Occupational Therapist Rikia Trischuk. Activities and strategies for home and school will be discussed!

Playing games helps with Executive Functioning:

There are lots of new versions of this classic build-and-topple game. But all of them require players to ask the same challenging questions. “What will happen if I remove this block from this tower? Will this whole structure wobble if I take away this one? How will pulling it out quickly affect the stack?” Jenga requires players to be aware and in control of their actions, and those are great skills for kids to hone. But it may be frustrating for kids who have motor skills issues, so choose accordingly.

Try games that use visual memory. There are lots of matching games that can help kids work on visual memory, like the classic game Concentration (or Memory).

You can also do things like give kids a magazine page and ask them to circle all instances of the word the or the letter a. License plates can also be a lot of fun. Take turns reciting the letters and numbers on a license plate and then saying them backwards, too.

Play cards.

Simple card games like Crazy Eights, Uno, Go Fish, and War can improve working memory in two ways. Kids must keep the rules of the game in mind. They also must remember what cards they have and which one's other people have played.