Establishing routines and supporting organisational skills at home is important and can support all children. Whether it’s getting ready for school in the morning, completing homework, or getting ready for bed, children really benefit from having clear and consistent routines. They bring predictability, comfort and calm to a world that can sometimes be quite overwhelming.
Even the small, consistent strategies can make a big difference. This blog explores why routines are so important, why some children may find them difficult, and how you can support your child at home in a practical, compassionate way.
Why Routines Matter
Routines can bring a sense of order and predictability. For children with special educational needs, SEND, this can be particularly important for them.
Having clear, visual and consistent routines helps with:
- Reducing Anxiety: Many children with SEND feel anxious when they don’t know what to expect. A consistent routine creates a a feeling of comfort and calm where surprises are reduced so they can feel more secure.
- Building Independence: When the routine is predictable, children will begin to learn what comes next and they can start to become more independent with daily tasks.
- Supporting Transitions: Moving from one activity to another can be particularly challenging for some young people. A structured routine can help children, as they understand and learn what to expect next.
- Developing Life Skills: Following routines is an important skill for the future. We can help teach children the right strategies to remember their routines, such as getting ready for schoo, to build their independence as they grow.
- Creating Calm at Home: Predictable routines give children the chance to feel safe and secure with the home rules or expectations and hopefully reducing conflict over plans and changes.
Why Routines and Organisation Can Be Difficult
Some children, including those with SEND, can find routines difficult and they find them hard to follow. Understanding these challenges is an important step in finding ways to support them.
- Executive Functioning Difficulties: Executive functioning is the brain’s ability to plan, organise, and manage tasks. Children with differences like ADHD or autism may struggle with these skills, making it hard for them to remember steps in a routine or to stay on track without support.
- Sensory Differences: For some children, sensory sensitivities make daily activities more challenging. A routine such as brushing their teeth can feel very overwhelming due to the taste or texture of toothpaste. This sensory overwhelm could then impact their whole routine.
- Difficulty with Transitions: Moving from one activity to another, such as transitioning from a play activity to homework, can be very challenging. The change can feel sudden and can then lead to upset or a reluctance to complete the next task.
- Memory and Processing Differences: Some children find it difficult to retain verbal instructions or it can take them longer to process the instructions. This makes routines harder to remember and follow independently.
- Emotional Regulation Challenges: For some, a change in routine or activity, especially if it is moving away from something they enjoy, can make them feel confused. They might be very reluctant to change.
By recognising and understanding children’s unique differences and challenges, we can empathise with how hard they might find routines and tweak our expectations by putting the right support in place.
Top Tips for Creating Successful Routines at Home
Creating routines doesn’t have to mean rigid timetables or removing any flexibility we have at home. It is about being able to find a balance between the structures we put in place and the personal differences and needs.
Here are some practical ways that we can try and offer support:
-
Start Small and Build Gradually
Rather than completely changing your child’s day and including lots of detailed routines, start by focussing on one small part of their daily routine which typically causes the most stress. It might be leaving the house in the morning, or getting ready for bed. Break it down into manageable small steps and practice this consistently until they start to do this with more independence. Then, you can choose another routine to include.
-
Use Visual Supports
Visual aids and cues can really help many children to understand routines, including those with SEND. You could try:
- Visual Plans/Routines: Use pictures or symbols to represent each step of the routine, e.g. “wash your face, brush your teeth, put on pyjamas, bedtime story”. You could create a velcro board so that children can physically remove the actions as they complete them.
- Timers or Clocks: Visual countdowns and timers can help children to understand how long they have for an activity, or how long they have left before moving to the next part of the routine. For example, the TTS Easi-Timer uses colours and time to create a visual countdown.
- Checklists: A lot of us love a checklist, and children are just the same. Having a written checklist that children can tick off as they complete tasks, can hep with independence and a feeling of accomplishment. You can laminate these and use a whiteboard pen, so the marks can be asily wiped off, ready for the next day. Alternatively, use Velcro pieces to remove the stages as they go.
-
Keep Routines Consistent
Consistency is key. Try to keep the order of steps the same each day (or as close as is possible), even if the timings need to vary slightly. For example, always brush your teeth before you put on pyjamas, as this will signal what is coming next, regardless of whether bedtime is at 7:30pm or 8pm that night.
-
Prepare for Transitions
Give your child notice of any upcoming changes or transitions so they can begin to prepare for moving on. For example, you might give a countdown warning for tidy up time – “In 10 minutes, we’re going to tidy up the toys”. Then follow this with a 5 minute reminder, and so on. Using a visual timer can also help, such as a electronic or sand timer. This offers a calm, visual/audio prompt that reduces the need for verbal demands which often cause anxiety or tension, especially for those children who like to feel in control.
-
Break Tasks into Smaller Steps
Many routines involve multiple steps. For example the task of ‘getting ready for school’ involves lots of smaller steps. Breaking these down into the little parts can help children to organise themselves. Such as, put on uniform, put on socks, brush your teeth, pack your school bag, put on coat and shoes, etc. Write down or use visual prompts to break down and show each step so your child knows exactly what to do. Sometimes we do need to take a step backwards as well to help with the tasks within tasks. For example asking a child to ‘get dressed’. They might benefit from breaking this down into put on pants, put on trousers, put on t-shirt, etc.
-
Build in A Bit of Flexibility
Consistency is important. But it is also important to teach children that sometimes routines might change slightly. If something changes, like going on holiday or having a doctor’s appointment, prepare them in advance and explain the new routine clearly, using visuals if possible. You could look for pictures of the place you are going and create a new ‘holiday routine’ together before you go.
-
Create Routines Together
Involve your child in creating their routines. Ask them what order they’d like to do things in and/or let them choose a visual symbol for each step. They could even draw the stages themselves, so they have their own representation of that stage.
-
Keep encouraging
Praise and encouragement help children feel proud of their progress. Focus on the effort they put in as well as what they achieve. For example “I love how you remembered to pack your book bag today”, even if other parts didn’t go quite to plan.
-
Model Organisational Skills
Children learn by watching. Share aloud what you are doing in your routines, for example “I’m making a list of what I need before I go shopping so I don’t forget.” This shows them that being organised is a skill we all use and we all need to practise.
-
Adapt to Your Child’s Age and Needs
As children grow, we may need to change and adapt. When they are younger, they might prefer picture cards or songs. Whereas, older children might like more digital tools such as calendar apps or reminders on a digital device. Some children also might prefer tactile timetables like Velcro charts or laminated checklists they can physically tick off or move. Just like us, some will be a real ‘to do list’ fan!
Supporting Organisation at Home
Organisation isn’t just about following the routines, there are lots of skills that go into ‘being organised’ that we can help with too. Here are some tips:
- Create ‘Homes’ for Items: Try to have a consistent place for belongings, such as shoes and school bags so that children always know where to find them. You might label places with words or pictures too if that helps.
- Pack in advance: Teach children to prepare ahead, for example packing their school bag the night before when there is less pressure on time.
- Keep Choices Simple: Too many options can be overwhelming. Keep choices, such as clothing, to just a couple of options.
When Things Don’t Go to Plan
Even with the best planning, routines don’t always run as smoothly as we would like. Remember, this is ok. We will all have those days. Some days will just feel more chaotic than others.
When this happens try to:
- Stay Calm (well, as much as is possible): Your child may already be feeling overwhelmed. When you are calm, it will help them also to regulate their emotions.
- Acknowledge Feelings: Show empathy and understanding that they might be finding the change tricky. For example, “I know it’s hard to stop playing when you’re having fun.”
- Review and Adjust: If a routine consistently causes stress, take a look at what isn’t working. You might want to break it down further, change the order, or use some different visual supports.
- Celebrate Small Wins: Even if not everything goes to plan, celebrate what has worked! Small bits of success are still progress in the right direction.
Final Thoughts
For children with SEND, building these important skills around routines and organisation can be really important for building independence, reducing anxiety, and keeping things calm. Although these skills might take a bit more time to develop, every step forward and every new routine is really important.
Start small, use visuals, be consistent and celebrate progress, and we can help children to gain confidence in managing their own daily tasks. We all like a bit of order, structure and planning at times, so we can enjoy these new strategies too!
This article has been written by TTS in-house expert, Catherine Jewkes
Catherine is a former teacher, senior leader and qualified SENCo, having taught across many different year groups from Nursery to Year 6. She has also worked for a Local Authority leading and supporting a locality of over 70 mainstream and specialist settings from nurseries through to colleges, helping to develop and implement provision for their learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
