Clumsiness and Poor Coordination: Many ADD children exhibit problems with fine motor control. This can be seen in poor handwriting and in difficulty performing other routine tasks such as buttoning buttons or tying shoelaces. When combined with child's inability to plan or organize a flow of activities, resulting outcome (written paper, self-dressing, etc.) may appear chaotic and disorganized. Many ADD children also exhibit gross motor control clumsiness due to poor motor planning cognitive skills or other co-existing weaknesses in areas such as balance, depth-perception or eye-hand coordination.

Disorganization: The ADD child is a study in disorganization! Whether it is state of child's room, organization of a term paper, set up of child's school supplies and workspace, grooming, dressing and hygiene skills, or any other aspect of child's life, most probable outcome will be a disorganized mess. This results from ADD child's impulsivity (jumping at any solution), distractibility (stopping in middle of any activity), hyperactivity (pulling out and tearing apart everything in sight), and inattention (they lose interest anyway!).

Mood Swings: With an ADD child, everything is always at extremes, and their range of emotions is no different. In some cases, they can be extremely domineering and controlling as they seek to gain attention for themselves. In other cases, they can be unreachable, and no amount of discipline or parental intervention seems to have an effect. When an child with ADD is "stuck" in emotions of moment, there seems to be no way for reasonable discussions to bypass emotional whirlwind in progress. ADD children can be described as oppositional, stubborn, overly-dramatic, flighty, ecstatically happy or excessively sensitive, just to name a few of extremes experienced by ADD children.

Poor Social Skills: Based on all of issues discussed so far, it's not surpising that ADD children don't fare well with peer relationships. They speak and act impulsively, show off and dominate conversations or class time, clown around at inappropriate times, miss subtle social cues, may be physically clumsy and awkward, and often irritate and annoy their peers in a thousand daily ways.

As a result of symptoms and behaviors just described, ADD child encounters all too many difficulties in their young lives. True ADD should not be considered a "phase" that will be outgrown. Rather, parents and educators should seek all of education and knowledge they can find to help these kids flourish and succeed throughout elementary school years.

Of course you can make any folders to whatever applies to you. I find this to be easiest and fastest way to get organized with paperwork, if not least expensive. I also recommend buying a medium to large size bulletin board and putting all of most important things on there that you always forget you have. Things like important phone number, coupons, reminders, and more can go there easily. It is also a great place to hang children's artwork if you have small children.

The next method is a little less efficient, but can work wonders for those on a tight budget. First get several medium to small size boxes that have separate lids, and either get several yards of fabric, or you can even use old clothes with interesting patterns. Get a hold of some fabric glue (the best kind to use is spray kind). Then cut fabric to cover outside of box, and also lid. Glue fabric to boxes securely, and let dry. Then using 3X5 cards, label each box as needed.

Examples:

"UNPAID BILLS" "PAID BILLS" "MISC" "TO DO" "IMPORTANT PAPERS"

I have created several very pretty floral boxes using this method, and you can even add pictures of loved ones, pictures cut from magazines, sequins, or anything else you can think of. The stack boxes, and add papers to their respective boxes as needed. Simple and effective!

Another good thing to use when organizing your papers are folders, as in kind kids use in school, with a pocket on each side. They come in many different styles, and can be useful in keeping together slips of information, and things you need to put away but do not yet have time. I personally always keep a plastic tray on my desk for "papers that need to be put away", either in boxes or file cabinet drawers, so that I can put them a way when I have a spare moment, yet they won't get lost.

It is always good to keep several plain boxes in your basement or storage area, and label them by year (i.e. "1997" "1998" "1999" "2000",ect.), and at end of each year, go through where you keep your paid bills and receipts, and place every each in box for prior year. That way your box or file cabinet won't get stuffed full, and yet you will have these items on hand in case of an audit or other dispute.

I hope these home office tips help you, and it is always best to think of your home office just as you would a business office. Pretend you are secretary keeping things in place to run a business, and you will never go wrong.