A visual timetable or timeline uses pictures to break down steps of a task or a routine throughout the day. They are used to help people who struggle to understand instructions or remember what comes next in their day. The children’s communication charity I CAN describes a visual timetable as like using a diary, following a recipe or making a list using pictures instead of words.

Ican describes how they can help your child

• Children with difficulty understanding language may benefit from visual timelines because of the extra time they allow them to think. When we talk our words disappear quickly and children have to remember and work out what we have said. As pictures don’t disappear, your child can look at them and take in the information at their own pace.
• Visual timelines can also help support any child who is anxious, perhaps because they are going somewhere or doing something new, or don’t understand routines. They are reassuring for children who need to know what is going to happen next in a task or routine so that they can anticipate this.
• Many children learn better when they have pictures to help them. Lots of children are visual learners which means they learn by seeing things rather than listening.
• Therefore, visual timelines build on your child’s strengths to support other areas of learning that they are finding more difficult.
• Some professionals suggest that using symbols and visual timelines as part of a multisensory teaching approach that can include signing and speaking too, helps children behave well, develop literacy, be motivated, remind and reinforce concepts they know and lead to more independence.
• Visual timelines can also help if your child isn’t reading yet or has any difficulties reading, as it helps them to look at the pictures in the same ways that we read, moving from left to right.
• Some children with speech, language and communication Needs (SLCN) have poor memory for what they hear. Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) find it much harder to remember what they have heard than other children. Visual support strategies such as visual timelines give your child more time to take in information, and also gives them a reminder if they’ve forgotten or become distracted. This can help them to keep motivated and interested in what they’re doing.

How can visual timelines support my child’s learning?

Visual timelines can support your child’s learning because they:

• are stable over time and don’t disappear

• are relevant and meaningful to your child

• attract and hold their attention

• support your child if they are a visual learner

• reduce anxiety as they know what’s going to happen next

• make concepts more concrete, e.g. before, after, morning, afternoon, first, next

• can be used as prompts and reminders

• model what is important in a task

• communicate things that they might find difficult to understand otherwise

• help them cope with and prepare for changes

• increase independence

• are individual to them

• help your child’s sequencing understanding and skills

• help them to scan left to right as they look at the timeline; these are the same skills

• needed for reading

• encourage children to ‘read’

• help them learn the written words relevant to their day.

Further Information

For more information visit ICAN

Written by Rachel Harrison, Speech and Language Therapist

On behalf of Integrated Treatment Services