Provide consistent structure in your child’s day

• • Make a plan on how the day will look and stick to the plan as much as possible

Create a daily schedule for your child and present it visually

• • Present your child’s daily plan visually to them so they can see ahead of time what will happen that day and prepare them for what’s ahead

Incorporate breaks into your child’s routine or daily schedule

• • Balance “free time”, body or movement breaks, or sensory breaks throughout the day

Present expectations visually

• • Use To Do lists, checklists, First/Then boards, etc.

Reduce environmental distractions where possible (e.g., window views, excess wall art, view of clock, others engaging in other activities, loud sounds)

• • Avoid window view access

  • Reduce visual distractions (art, preferred items on the wall, etc.)

  • Find a quiet area

  • Find a traffic free area (less people)

Assign designated spaces for specific tasks

• • A consistent spot for doing homework, eating, watching the iPad, etc.

Highlight important information

• • Highlight what parts of a worksheet are important to read

  • Highlight a specific part of your child’s schedule that needs to be done on time

Use closed-ended activities where possible to indicate when the activity is completed

• • Puzzles, one page worksheets, one YouTube video, one book chapter, etc.

Use a timer when open-ended activities are presented

• • Use a digital or visual timer for tasks that don’t have a clear end point such as playing with Lego, reading for daily reading tasks, working on homework, playing cars, etc.

Reduce access to highly preferred items or activities

• • Place items that are highly preferred out of reach and out of sight to use as rewards for appropriate behaviour, and to reduce desire to access them during times the are not available

Use high interest materials during non-preferred tasks or activities (e.g., incorporate special interests into learning tasks)

• • Place a Paw Patrol sticker on the worksheet your child has to complete

  • Allow your child to clean their room in a Spiderman costume

Establish rules together with your child

• • Create a list of household rules with your child

    • Only have a few important ones

    • Use positive wording

Reduce demands when your child seems to be having an “off day”

• • Have your child complete two homework questions instead of four

Use clear and simple instructions and avoid non-essential words

• • Say “Time for a bath” instead of “Let’s go have a bath so you are nice and clean and fresh for tomorrow”

Present one step of a task at a time

• • Instead of saying “make your bed, put your dirty laundry in the hamper and get dressed” all at once, state only the first step “make your bed” and when that is complete, say the second step, and so forth

Avoid use of the word “No” and instead tell your child “what do do”

• • Instead of “No, it’s not time to watch your iPad” say “Time to go outside and play on the swings”

Provide warnings when transitions are approaching

• • “It’s almost time for a bath. You can watch one more YouTube video”

  • “Dinner will be done when the timer goes off”

Alternate easy and/or preferred tasks with more difficult tasks

• • Lego for 5 minutes, then 5 minutes of printing, then colouring for 5 minutes, then one number task, etc.

Prepare your child ahead of “big” or challenging times/changes in routine

• • Read a social story about the playland being closed

  • Tell your child about what is going to happen when they go to the doctors

Provide choice when choice is possible

• • What colour to do printing with

  • What order to do chores in

  • How long to work on a task before break

  • Who they want to do homework with

Look for signs of escalation and intervene with support before challenging behaviour (e.g., when your child puts their head on the table, you can say “I see you need some help” or prompt the words/use of communication to to say “I need help”)

• • When your child grunts while doing a homework task, offer help

  • When your child cries and points to a cookie, model the words “cookie please” and immediately give the cookie

  • When your child flops to the floor when their blocks fall over, model how to rebuild them

Model the language and responses you want to see from your child

• • When you drop something or something goes wrong, model a calm appropriate response

Provide lots of positive attention for appropriate behaviour throughout the day

• • Catch your child being “good”

  • Acknowledge when they wake up on time for school

  • High fives for picking up toys after playing with them