What is it?
Planning and prioritizing supports help learners determine what needs to be done, what is most important, and how to organize their time and actions to reach a goal. Strategies may include identifying a starting point, breaking larger goals into smaller steps, estimating time, ranking tasks by importance or urgency, and using calendars, planners, checklists, or other visual and digital tools.
How to use it?
Make the thinking involved in planning visible and explicit. Help learners identify the goal, determine the steps needed, decide what should happen first, and consider how much time or effort each part may require. Visual planners, priority lists, timelines, and digital tools can make this information easier to manage. Model the process initially, then gradually shift decision-making to the learner so the support builds self-awareness and independence rather than simply organizing tasks for them.
Why use it?
Planning and prioritizing place significant demands on executive functioning and can be challenging even when a learner fully understands the academic content. External supports can reduce the mental effort required to organize competing demands, decide where to begin, and keep track of longer-term goals. Explicitly supporting these skills can increase independence, task completion, and a learner's ability to manage responsibilities across school and everyday life.
