Ok ... short and sweet.

A free, step-by-step instruction list/images online that can be printed to give a child when overwhelmed with the task of cleaning a room (aka a disaster area)

Additional Rantings: You would think this is an easy to find item, but in the mix of great things to buy, and simple 7-step lists (not detailed) there isn't one.

I can convert any file to any file type, extract any thing from a webpage, and can use almost any thing so post a link, a file, pictures, anything?

... I am the parent of a child who many times reminds me of the character, "Cheese" from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. You should watch it once ... it's hilarious!

What a great idea, and something my ADHD granddaughter could certainly use. I know I was never able to keep my room clean as a child, my mother would have to sit down with me and give me instructions one at a time (pick up the clothes, make the bed, throw away the trash, put the books on the shelf). If she would tell me more than one thing at a time I would only remember the first or the last thing on the list. My oldest granddaughter seems to have the same issues. The youngest has been tentatively diagnosed with Autism and we don't even try to tell her more than one thing at a time.

yes ... he is great at following directions/instructions, if he can take them one at a time. as in your example ... more than one and his attention just slides off to somewhere. i found an 8 step thing but it was just to do floor, do bed, pick up etc etc, rather than a ... 1. Look at your room and find the big objects first, pick up pillows, clothes and coats anything that is easy to pick up 2. Check bed, and pull off sheets to change or make bed, (whatever your parents want) and use this to set things like your toy containers etc. there must be a hundred ways to do it, and i figured there must be just as many online, but to my amazement, people want to charge money for this stuff ... the nerve !

I LOVE Cheese!! And Bloo for that matter. Chowder is my new love, and my kids holler when it's on so I'll watch with them. lol

anyway, I digress....

Maybe this will help: Every week my daughter has to find things that start with each letter of the alphabet, one letter per week. I do not keep a supply of magazines to cut up, so I started going to google and just typing in, say, Elephant. Then I click google images.

When I read your post I had this epiphany, because I too need to devise a simple, easy to use method for chart chores for my kids. I'm the ADD one but I'm starting to see signs in my son.

I thought it might work to google something like 'make bed' and then see what google images has. I can just use construction paper, make a grid table, so that I can put the pic at the start of a row, and use stickers for each day he does that chore.

I already have several stickers for this project. I got a tablet of over 2000 motivational kids stickers. I'd really like to find laminating sheets to cover the chart so I can write in things under the pics so my early reader gets a bit of education along with it.

*just googled 'make bed', came up with great stuff. Now, as I do with my daughters alphabet words, I'll just right click, select copy, paste the image into Word and print out and then cut out. I find it relatively simple to do this because I can just modify the size right there in word with no cutting/cropping/etc.

Wow, you're post gave me inspiration to do the project I'd been keeping on the back burner. Thanks to Adderall I know right where my stickers and construction paper are! lol

as a self-proclaimed expert of search engines and google in particular, you would have thought that i would have thought about thinking of how to think of better phrases to search for ... but it would seem i have ... (wait for it ... outthought) myself haa! anyway, that is a good idea, i was only searching for terms like chores, list, adhd chores, to do, step by step etc. my son is 11, and almost 6ft. we are moving the end of this month to a bigger house where we hope to perhaps keep things in better order. (600+ sq ft, 2 adults, 1 kid, and a minpin and a full size pup just isn't enough room)

thanks so far for both of your input ... i didn't really expect a "Real" person to respond, i guess i thought some one would just tell me something i already knew ... and good luck with your epiphany:soapbox:

The chart worked really well for getting ready for school in the morning. Guess it's time to do a new "clean up your room" version. I'll have to ask my granddaughter if she wants pics on the chart - the one for getting ready for school didn't have any. She's been able to read very well since the 1st grade.

My son's only six, and I've tried a variety of charts/sticker graphs/magnetboards and never had a lot of luck with keeping my son interested in it. I have to admit that this is probably entirely my fault. Being completely unable to live within a structure myself, I fail miserably when trying to provide structure for my son. Or, to put it another way, I start out excited and with the best intentions to follow through, but after a couple of days I constantly forget about the chart. My inconsistency just screws the whole process up.

Anyhow, just wanted to mention that the very best working method I've found for getting my son to clean up is this - have a definite clean-up time every day and enforce it. It works well to have it right before dinner..."Oh, well - guess we'll be eating without you since you're not done cleaning up". When I manage to be consistent about it, my son actually does a pretty good job and I no longer have to supervise (and prod) every second. By cleaning up every day, his room never reaches the disaster-zone level and so is manageable for him.

here are two posts related to free checklists and behavior modification charts:
http://www.addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25530
http://www.addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15167

hope one of them can help you out! :)

oh - - check this out (and click on Task Analysis: Clean Your Room)
http://www.behavior-solutions.com/home.php?pg=taskanalysis

breaking down a task is called task analysis. using that term will help your search if the one above doesn't work. I actually might have a document for task analysis. I think it's for getting dressed, but it would be very easy to input cleaning a room. I'd have to find and dig through files.

My son's only six, and I've tried a variety of charts/sticker graphs/magnetboards and never had a lot of luck with keeping my son interested in it. I have to admit that this is probably entirely my fault. Being completely unable to live within a structure myself, I fail miserably when trying to provide structure for my son. Or, to put it another way, I start out excited and with the best intentions to follow through, but after a couple of days I constantly forget about the chart. My inconsistency just screws the whole process up.

that was always my problem. and my kids caught on. they knew moms "new routine" would last a max of 3 days so they didn't care.

now, new and improved mom scares them a bit because I actually follow through with things and the "new routines" are still expected. In fact, one of my new ones is getting clothes out for next day and brushing teeth before bed. Last night my five year old actually reminded me "Mom, remember, we have to brush our teeth before bed". That was one of those YAY moments. I'm finally doing something right!!

Last night my five year old actually reminded me "Mom, remember, we have to brush our teeth before bed". That was one of those YAY moments. I'm finally doing something right!!

WooHoo! - good for you, that's excellent! I know the same feeling as lately my son has done some things without asking. After these years of struggle and constant nagging, these moments bring a glimmer of hope that things can change!