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If you have an autistic child who does not need the higher level of support that comes with visual pictures, try using a system similar to this color coded daily schedule instead. You can also set this up as a master calendar to help your entire family get organized. It’s one of the many ways to set up structure and routine. Read about why routine is important for autism and find more resources throughout our site.

How to Use a Color Coded Daily Schedule for Autism

A daily schedule helps with setting up routine and structure. Seems simple enough and yes, it really is that simple.

Having a daily schedule takes some of the guesswork out of the day-to-day and provides structure. By making things predictable, you are helping your autistic child with any anxiety that they may come with their time and daily activities.

For example, if your child is starting at a new school or it’s over the school break; their daily routine may become disrupted. While you cannot predict every single thing that can possibly happen, you can at least provide them with some structure. You can also help them become used to their new routine when you set up a visual schedule.

For many autistic children, a visual schedule or visual support system is set up with pictures. This can be with a homemade PECS binder or with another system.

For autistic children who are able to discern colors and can recognize words, you can try a color coded daily schedule.

Or you can use this in combination with a picture based system.

How to Set Up a Color Coded Daily Schedule

First things first, you’ll have to decide if this system will be used just for your autistic child or if the entire family will adapt. It may seem like a bit much, especially at first. So I would suggest starting small. At the very least, you’ll want to set this up for your autistic child and in a way that makes sense.

Inside the Autism Family Toolkit, you’ll find my Autism Mom Routine Toolkit as well as the visual schedule toolkit. The printables in these toolkits will help.

Start by looking at their daily routine and then set those out on an hour-by-hour basis. You can color code in the following ways:

  • Home or school
  • Morning, afternoon, evening
  • Weekday vs. weekend

Or, if you are making this for the entire family, you can color code by family member.

Just keep in mind that it may be a bit overwhelming, for everyone, if you are starting with all family members. However, with patience and repetition, you’ll all get used to the idea in no time.

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Kori

Digital Product Creator at Kori at Home
Kori is a late diagnosed autistic/ADHD mom. She is currently located in Albany, NY where she is raising a neurodiverse family. Her older daughter is non-speaking autistic (and also has ADHD and Anxiety) and her youngest daughter is HSP/Gifted. A blogger, podcaster, writer, product creator, and coach; Kori shares autism family life- the highs, lows, messy, and real. Kori brings her own life experiences as an autistic woman combined with her adventures in momming to bring you the day-to-day of her life at home. Kori is on a mission to empower moms of autistic children to make informed parenting decisions with confidence and conviction.

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