Timed Visual Schedules

I have a student with an IEP objective to get ready to go home independently at the end of the day in under fifteen minutes. He made minimal progress on the objective last year in spite of a variety of interventions.

Today I tried something new and he was ready to go in eight minutes. I used a "Mark My Time" bookmark (available at department and bookstores or the website above), print outs of the steps in the routine and velcro to made a timed visual schedule. Then I told him we were having a race and that he had to do all of the steps before for the timer rang to "win". He was asked to remove each step he finished and velcro it to the back of the book mark. The last step was to sit and wait quietly, which he has never done before. He motored like he never has before and then pulled out his chair and sat down saying, "I did it!"

I would imagine that this intervention would work with any timed sequence. You can use just text or picture symbols, number of steps you can fit will depend on size of the font or symbol. I think it would be a neat idea for general education teachers to use these as hall passes for students who get distracted and don't come right back to class.

My number one tip is not to throw away the directions for the timer!