Homeschool with Special Needs: Daily Plan

One of the big challenges with Special Needs, is grasping time and order. Concepts like ‘soon’ and ‘later’ can be really difficult for growing minds, and as you may have seen in use in school or therapy settings, visuals can be a HUGE part of tackling this confusion.

As a homeschooler, I use personalised visuals, developed specifically for my child’s needs, and while they may not directly apply to your child, I hope they may be helpful, or even inspire you to create your own!

Daily Plan

Each day, my son checks his folder to see what we are doing that day. This helps him map out in his mind whats coming (as he finds comfort in predictability), and also gives him the opportunity to bargin for different activities!

I have broken our day down into two main learning blocks, with a ‘free play’ block in the afternoon. This could be screen time for you if you limit screens through the day.

Once the task has been completed, you can move the task to the checkered flag or ‘finish line’. This helps not only with an understanding that the task (or reward) is completed, but helps to visually demonstrate progress, especially for kids that struggle to focus.

My-Day-1Download

FinishedDownload

Creating ‘Visuals’

Many great visuals have been created, I use some from Teachstarter and Teachers Pay Teachers, but I have also created some of our own, using photos from home. You can use printed pictures, hand drawn, photographs, even written words if your child prefers. You can also laminate them if you want to keep them hardy, or just as they are.

We laminate ours so we can also attach small tabs of Velcro, making them easier to use, move, and store (plus let’s be honest, Velcro is fun). Whatever you chose to do, it needs to work for you and your child.

I hope this resource is helpful, let me know if there’s a resource you’re struggling to find!

Kerrie ✨

* The resources in this post are offered freely for personal use, they are not to be reproduced or sold without permission from the author.