“Time to…” A Schedule Booklet to Go

By Monica Phelps, B.S.

Make and Take workshops have always been so popular that we would like to give you something to make at home.

Teachers and parents of students with autism are often faced with the challenge of making smooth transitions throughout the day and evening. Calendars, schedules and even songs help us make transitions with (hopefully) minimal tantrums.

It is difficult to take a schedule board on an outing or trip to the grocery store even when we plan on it. Here are instructions for a handy schedule/transition book that is small enough for your pocket or purse. It can be thoughtfully planned for either school or home. The list of activities might be useful in the planning stages.

Materials Needed

• 3 ½ x 5 index cards (multicolor cards for easy coding)
• Icons/drawings or pictures of activities needed (we use BoardMaker from Mayer-Johnson)
• Cover or card stock paper cut in half lengthwise
• Contact paper or laminator

Instructions

1. Determine the activities that need transiting to or from and categorize them.
2. Collect icons or pictures that depict those activities. Cut and paste them onto the index cards. Place one picture per card. (Use the same color card for each category.)
3. Fold the ½ sheet of cover weight paper to form a long “book.” Place a picture or icon of a clock on the front of the book with the words “Time to…”
4. Laminate (or cover with contact paper) the cards and cover of the book.
5. Take this to a copy center and ask for the pictures to be bound with a GBC binding strip on the right side of the back cover. They can also do laminating.

Now you are ready to use the book for transitions. You can move from art to gym or get from the car to the store without a schedule board.

Suggested list of activities

• Read a book
• Clean up
• Go to the bathroom
• Get on the bus
• Eat lunch
• Go home
• Go to art, recess, or inside
• Write
• Wash hands
• Do math