Go shopping
Inside the store everything happens at once. Fluorescent lights, music, strangers, queues, a ticking clock and a parent staring at a list. The child handles every impression alone. The steps below give something to hold on to between the peppers and the till.
♀Go shopping
A woman pushes a shopping cart full of groceries. She is also holding a pink shopping bag with a star.
♀Go shopping
A woman holds two full grocery bags and a mobile phone. A speech bubble with a shopping cart icon is next to her.
♀Woman with a shopping cart and bags
A smiling woman pushes a shopping cart filled with bread, milk and fruit while carrying two shopping bags.
♀Person with a trolley and a shopping bag
A smiling person pushes a trolley full of groceries and carries a red bag with an apple, a banana and a milk carton.
♀Person shopping with a trolley and a bag
A smiling person pushes a trolley with a carrot and bottles and carries a red bag, beside a basket symbol with a shield.
♀Adult and child shopping together
A smiling adult and a smiling child push a red trolley with a banana, an apple and packets, with a purple bag hanging on the trolley.
About this visual support
Stores are designed to keep adults inside longer: bright light, music at low volume but constant, smells, the clink of the till and movement at the edge of vision. For a child the same environment is a flood of impressions without pause. And just when the child needs the most support, the parent is busy with the list, products and payment.
A visual schedule gives the child a small private map of the trip: in, cart, fruit and veg, dairy, bread, till, out. It becomes a parallel thread running alongside the store's own logic. For many children with autistic traits, the predictability makes more impressions bearable. A concrete tip for this routine in particular: give the child their own short list with three items to find, so the gaze is aimed forward instead of at everything at once.
In Routined you can save the shop route and pull it up next time. Try the app free for 14 days.
Use this image in a schedule
Build your own visual schedule with this image and download it as a print-ready PDF. Completely free.
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Take the visual supports with you
In Routined you build schedules from these pictures, add timers and voice instructions, and your child follows the day on their own.
* 14-day free trial included for new users.