Picture Schedules

Our schedule has always been very important to Honeybunches. In my reading of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders I see that is a common trend and one of the most important things in helping them remain stable.  I copy and pasted this from my old blog because I figured it would be beneficial to many...

Here is what our picture schedule used to look like:


We had our morning routine which stayed the same each day. This includes getting up, eating breakfast, brushing teeth, bathing and getting dressed. This is on paper just taped to the wall. Then I have the words "Morning Activities" and an arrow pointing down. I put the sticky side of several pieces of velcro under this for morning activities, and the same on the other side of the wall under Afternoon activities.


On the right side is Honeybunches' daily chores which he picks to do. He picks usually two out of about ten choices of things that are easy for him such as feeding the dog, giving the cats water, cleaning the table, emptying little trashes, etc. Under this is his evening routine which stays the same every day. This includes grace and dinner, meds, pajamas, story, time with mom/dad.






These are the little hanging envelopes I made to store his pictures that we are not using for the day in. It keeps them organized. I have one for No school day activities. On no school days we have extra choices of things that he would normally do at school like computer, weather, days of the week, alphabet, lunch, snack time, and more. In outings and Appointments I took pictures or found them off the internet of all the places we go for his appointments, grocery shopping, other stores, playground, airport, etc. In active activities I have pictures such as walking the dog, excercising, playing ball, riding bike, etc. I have him pick atleast 1-2 activities out of here each day. We also have our chore envelope, and our daily activity envelope. In daily activities I have pictures of anything we possibly do in a day including school, outside play, arts and crafts, story time, free play, sensory, and more.

To begin our daily schedule I first made a list of everything we possibly do in a day. Then I organized it into categories. I was amazed how many of the pictures I needed we found online at business websites or through Google. This especially helps children who can't read yet or are visual learners.  That is why for us it works best to have bigger pictures, with a 1-2 word explanation written underneath. Most nights before he goes to bed we will do his schedule for the next day.  There are days I think that although he can read now, it would be helpful to get back into doing this type of thing again.  It worked well for him and I believe helped him visualize his days more than the written schedule does.