Children Need Day Planners

Children naturally go through periods of challenging behaviour.  One reason your child may get frustrated and act out is that they don’t fully understand what you say to them.  The words often used when telling children what’s going to happen such as first, then, next, before, after, and later, are higher level concepts.  Your child’s understanding of them continues to develop into the kindergarten year.
 
Day planners can help.  Okay, well maybe not the kind of day planners that you and I use.  But just as adults are comforted and often rely on many visual tools like calendars, day planners, and to-do lists, young children also benefit greatly when visual information is added to support what we say to them.  Auditory information (what we say) is fleeting – it is presented and then it is gone.  Visual information is permanent as long as you want it available.  Children can look at it as long as they need to make sense of it and can refer back to it for a reminder.
 
6 Ways You Can Use Visuals to Improve Communication and Behaviour with Your Child:
 
1) Use a picture for each step to follow when doing a specific routine activity (ie. washing hands, brushing teeth, toileting)
2) Use a picture schedule (“day planner”) to show your child their day plan
3) Use a visual timer to help them understand the passage of time (ie. 15 minutes until we leave or until we clean up)
4) Place a picture of a stop sign on cupboards, doors, or objects when they are not to enter or handle something
5) Use single cue cards for a quick reminder of an ongoing expectation (quiet while you are on the phone)
6) Use objects or pictures to help your child when they are learning to make choices
 
Sometimes using visuals will significantly increase a child’s willingness to comply or do a non-preferred activity just because it is a distraction from the aspects they dislike or because they can see a preferred activity is happening next.  Also, they feel important and successful when they can see that they’ve accomplished each step.  Children often feel proud when they complete expectations and become more independent.   Using visuals has the added bonus of providing them the opportunity to make choices and express themselves (ie. by pointing to pictures) before they are able to verbally.
 
In general, visual information and schedules can help your child better understand language and expectations, begin and end activities more cooperatively, accept changes in routine, and engage in non-preferred activities more easily.  They can also make your child’s life more predictable and when life is more predictable, behaviour often improves.
 
Children will have behaviour challenges, we know that.  But you will be amazed at how you can help prevent some of them.  By offering them visual information you will make communication more successful and help your little one do their best everyday.
 
About the Authors:
Megan Stock, MSLP and Nicole Diduck, MSLP are authors, speakers, and the founders of Naturally Baby, a company that provides powerful information and products for parents to set their children up for social, emotional, academic, and literacy success.  For more information, please e-mail info@naturallybaby.com or visit www.naturallybaby.com