Help out

About this visual support

Helping someone actually starts before the help itself. First you have to notice that a friend is struggling with a box, that mum has her arms full or that a little brother cannot reach. That step is the one most often missing. Children usually mean well, but their attention is elsewhere, and when an adult says can you help, it feels more like an order than something the child chose.

The visual support shows helping as a concrete action with a clear look: a hand reaching out, something carried together, something picked up. Once the child has seen the pictures a few times, it becomes easier to recognise those situations in real life. A tip is to start with one fixed helping task in the daily schedule, such as holding the door or carrying in a shopping bag, and let the picture stand for it. When that task is routine you can talk about other moments where the same picture fits.

Praise is easier to aim too, because you can point at the picture and say what you saw. In Routined you can add a helping task to the child's day and let them check it off themselves. You can try the app for 14 days, and the pictures here are free to download.