Visual Schedule
After Jackie was diagnosed as autistic, one of the things I learned that was really helpful for her was having a visual scheduled board. It was something they used in her special education preschool class that was really helpful for her. Once COVID hit and I was teaching her at home, I knew it would be beneficial for us to use one around the house as well. So I decided to put one together myself.
We found having a visual that laid out what the day was going to entail, whether it was the entire day or what after school, really helped Jackie's anxiety and helped with transitioning to different activities. I began tweaking and perfecting this schedule board. I added lots activities so we had lots of options. When I first created the board, I would put it together for Jackie. As she's gotten older, she participates more and gives me input in what she wants to do every day and what she wants on her boards. Eventually, with the input of my autistic brothers, I created activity boards for kids, young adults, and adults. It's also been really great for those harder activities like going to the doctor or doing other things she doesn't love doing. She knows the non-proffered activity is coming and she can mentally prepare for it.
While this was originally made for my autistic daughter with input from my autistic brothers geared toward autistics, it doesn't mean you have to be autistic to use it. This is a great tool for anybody! Any child, any adult, any teenager who struggles with needing to know what their day is going to look like could use a visual representation. I spent a lot of time with my brothers going through these with a fine tooth comb until I was sure we included as many options as possible for these downloads.
There are items that overlap across all three downloads like getting ready for bed, showering and brushing your teeth, but I have the downloads separated into age groups for a reason. Each download is specifically geared towards an age group. There are things like going to work or studying with a group or tutoring that apply to a teenager in that download. In the adult download, there are things like paying the bills, scheduling doctor's appointments and getting prescription refills an adult is going to need, but a teenager or a child are not going to need.
While these are jam packed with a ton of resources in them, I kept them at only $5 each because I wanted them to be as accessible as possible. I also believe diversity is very important and therefore have these coming all coming out in Spanish as well very soon. Hopefully, these can help someone who, like us, will benefit from a visual schedule. You can purchase these in downloads and links to the other supplies I use to put them together are listed below.
Visual Schedules | Shop
