Getting organised with visual schedules for your week!

Now that the school year has started, have you figured out when your child should be wearing sports uniform, wearing school uniform, bring their library bag, when canteen is available, when it is news day, when homework is due? A visual schedule might be the answer to plan out your week.

Last year, Miss 8 had a fabulous teacher (I'm sure this year's teacher is fabulous too!) who gave everyone a visual schedule at the beginning of the year.  These visual schedules are a great way to encourage kids to take responsibility for what is packed in the school bag and what to wear (ie. school vs sports uniform).  Where the routine doesn't change, you can print visual schedule that can last a term or even a year.

Using symbols or pictures in a visual schedule can be helpful for children with special needs as a visual guide to help plan and organise themselves and their belongings.  Changing the pictures around as needed, you can also help children with special needs cope with change (eg. in the school holidays, change of day for swimming lessons, etc). You can help them to anticipate the change by looking at the weekly schedule and talking about it, pointing out the pictures and how things have changed.

"Changing the pictures around as needed, you can also help children with special needs cope with change."

Example of a printed visual schedule for school age children.

For younger children, understanding one day from another and the sense of "time" can be confusing.  Are you asked ...Where am I going today?, Do I have swimming today?, Will I see my friend Jake today?, Do I have to go to preschool tomorrow? Can I go to the park today?...

A visual timetable can be helpful for young kids too.  The level of detail is up to you.  You may want to highlight activities that occur outside the home. When Mr 4 was very young, I used a daily schedule so that he could see that there was a sequence to be followed before he was allowed "screen time" (eg. play with toys, lunch, books, sleep, screen time, play with toys).  He was constantly asking for "screen time" and it was driving me batty!  The visual schedule really helped him to see that he had to wait or if the screen time picture didn't appear then he wouldn't be having screen time that day.

To get you started on a weekly schedule, I have made a FREE printable with pictures that you may want to use with your child/ren.  Simply print the pages, cut out the pictures and place them on your timetable.  You could laminate them for durability and use velcro or blutac to fix them onto the timetable. Download your FREE printable from the Your Kids OT Shop.

FREE printable visual schedule!

What about older children?!
Older children {and adults} may require a visual schedule to organise themselves for high school and university. Whilst some can manage a diary or a wall calendar, others may need further support.  Have you used "Google Calendars" on your iphone, ipad or android device? My understanding is that there are slight differences between the android app and the iphone/ipad apps so please check it out for yourself.  {I don't have an android device so can't verify this completely}.  

The "Google calendar" allows you to see things daily, weekly or monthly.  "Tasks", "to-do lists" and "events" can be added on your device or desktop.  You can enter re-occuring events {eg. piano lessons each Monday}.  You can set up audio or email notifications of events, setting up the time you want to be reminded about these events {eg. history test reminder set a week in advance}.  This can be really helpful for children and adults!

Here is an informative video for Android users...

Here is an informative video for Apple uses {get a cup of tea, it is quite long!}...

Note: If you are viewing this article via your subscribed email, you may need to click on the title of this post to take you to the website before you can view these videos. 


Would a visual timetable help your family get organised?

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