For things like hand washing, when J was younger, we took pictures of each of the steps involved so he got them in the right order without having to always ask (or, more often, forget what to do so didn't bother).
Blank month template - created in Excel |
Tick lists are good for 'what do I need in my bag' and used to consist of things like water bottle, fiddle toy, items for activity, snacks, suncream, hat, glasses and so on. But these days, after years of learning, J will talk these through 'out loud' to himself when getting ready for the day rather than use a physical list. Actually, he talks through most tasks if he's undertaking them 'solo'. He seems to need the repetition to consolidate the action.
A great part of J's organisation and planning 'training' has been cooking. He follows a recipe and will take each piece step by step. He likes the familiarity of gathering the ingredients, checking for the equipment and then following the method. Recently we have started to type up and laminate favourite recipes. With a clear layout and step by step instructions, these sheets are also used as tick sheets to keep track of where in the recipe has been reached.
We often use a cooking analogy when taking on other things like packing an overnight bag or sorting out what is needed for a hydrotherapy session - remembering 'ingredients' (things needed for the task/outing) and 'method' (what will be done, in which order to achieve the outcome).
Shoe sticker |
so, where possible, we gathered items that were yellow and then when looking for 'our stuff' when leaving Nana's or coming home from sports club, he'd look for yellow items that may be ours. We had a blue bag for school so things related to that were also blue.
Home made shoe sticker |
Counting down the time to a change of task or getting ready to go out is still something we do. J has very little concept of the passage of time and hates to be 'surprised' by what he sees as a sudden change. In school he had a sand timer (which he'd tip onto its side) and we have digital timers that we set for him to see and hear the time passing. These days, for going out of the house, we do a fifteen minute warning, a five minute warning and a 'right, time to get going'... the dog has picked up on the word "right" and dashes about which is an additional cue to make J realise his time's up!
Of course, there are resources aplenty to buy online... usually at great cost because anything labelled SEN or disability aid appears to have a hefty mark up added. So, I have spent hours trawling sites, reading books, chatting to therapists and seeking our own 'version' of things that work for us.