HI - my 8 years son does alot of what your daughter does. The only thing I can say is keep on her before she goes to bed to pick things up. It has come down to me taken the toys away from him, turning the TV off when he's picking up. If need be I stand there making sure he does get side track with something else and for him getting side track is really easy. His brother waiting to talk to him, needs to use the rest room. I alway have to remind him. As far as the paper cutting I haven't figured that one out yet. I thought maybe just the age but now I wonder if it is something more. I hope you can get it under control.

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and colorful - eye catching - visual reminders. Social stories are typically used for kids with Autism but I have used them with typically developing kids, kids with ADD and the the entire autism spectrum. It's a positive, personalized story about her doing the task the way you would like it done. Very repetitive. Then you can supliment with colorful posters for her room. With 1 task on each poster. Sally likes her room neat and clean. When Sally gets dressed in the morning she remembers to put her pajamas in the hamper. Good job Sally........ Sally likes to cut paper. When Sally is done cutting paper she put the pieces in the garbage. Excellent! Mom is proud of Sally........ You should read the book with her once a day until she doesn't need the book any longer......One issue at a time. You can fade one out and another one in, if you like. Good luck, Julia

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Ah, memories...lol. Your daughter sounds just like mine. She's 12 1/2 now and was diagnosed a few days before she turned 11. Up until that point, she had never managed to clean her room in her life. Doing it for her was not something I was willing to do. On the other hand, me sitting in her room supervising literally took hours and only resulted in frustration for me and for her. So my advice is to make it as streamlined and simple as possible for her. 1. Clear out the room. Like you said, only give her access to 10 toys. The same goes for books. Let her pick out 10 and then next week or next month or whenever, she can trade them in for 10 more. If her clean clothes magically transport themselves from the dresser or closet to the floor like my child's did, reduce the amount of clothing in her room. 2. Put all the little stuff somewhere like the top of her closet and get it down for her only if her room is already clean and if she picks it up immediately after she's done with it. Or better yet, play with the Barbies or the legos together. The time with you is a reward for picking up her room, and when you're done playing, you can help her pick it up. 3. Give her a small container with a lid to put paper items in. When the lid won't close, it's time to get rid of some of it. If she gets it out and doesn't pick it up, it goes in the garbage. This was a big issue for my child. She kept every note she ever got and every paper she'd ever doodled on. 3. Make her a permanent list of the things she needs to do to clean her room. Part of my daughter's problem was that she was overwhelmed and didn't know where to start. She still has this list stuck to the inside of her closet door. My daughter does clean her room now. It isn't always exactly how I'd like it, but it's a vast improvement from where we were 2 years ago. I hope something I said will be helpful! Good luck.

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Thanks for the suggestions and sympathy. Ang0609, you had some great ideas, and I will try them out. I finally gave up and put a small laundry hamper in her room -- since it's right there, she does put her clothes in it. I guess visual cues are a good thing.

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