I’ve written before about how much I owe my speech therapist for figuring out some strategies to help my brain relearn how to track and how to accurately work with numbers. Very specifically, I needed her help to relearn how to manage my checkbook, since tracking all of those values accurately has proven to be nearly impossible. The trick, among others, turned out to be sticky notes….
Haley taught me to write the quantity I was adding or subtracting on a tiny sticky note, as you see in the picture above. Then, I could move it around in my check register so that it was directly lined up where I was working, away from all the other text and values.
This, combined with having my calculator close by and non-essential keys hidden by washi tape, allowed me to start managing my checkbook again.
The whole experience made me think, makes me continue to think, about how to reduce visual clutter for all students, not just students with identified special education needs. What does “white space” look like in virtual education? Across various settings we manage daily, like email and other platforms?
Universal Design for Learning 