Encouraging Communication During Morning Routines

Encouraging Communication During Morning Routines

Morning Routine Visual Schedule

  • Talk with your child about each step of the process and show the pictures as you move through each task.
  • Help your child to understand the sequence of events by using “first- then” to describe the tasks in relation to one another.  For example, “First we get dressed, then we eat breakfast.”

Clothing choice board

  • Present 1 or 2 clothing options at a time.
  • Ask different types of questions:
    • Yes/no questions such as “Do you want to wear this sweater?”
    • Multiple choice questions using different types of clothing such as “Do you want to wear pants or shorts?”
    • Multiple choice questions using the same type of clothing adding descriptive words such as “Do you want to wear the blue shirt or the red shirt?
    • ‘Wh-‘ questions such as “What do you want to wear?”
  • Allow for different types of responses:
    • Nod or shake head
    • Look at, point to, or touch the clothing
    • Point to picture symbols on a choice board
    • Produce sounds or words
  • Provide a verbal model to reinforce your child’s choice such as “Shirt”, “Blue shirt” or “I want blue shirt”.
  • Show your child how to point to the words on the communication board as you say them.    

Please contact Dawn Hunt, SLP  with questions at huntd@dearbornschools.org or 313-827-8335.

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