Pick up things

About this visual support

Adults read tidy up as a cue to plan: scan the room, prioritise, start with the biggest. Many children read it as an abstract wish with no direction. They hear that something needs doing but can't see what. The result is standing in the middle of the room, looking around, getting stuck. That isn't defiance, it's the lack of a concrete starting point.

Visual support replaces the general command with visible sub-goals. Toys in the box. Books on the shelf. Cushions on the sofa. Shoes to the hallway. Each picture represents one category, so the child can tackle one category at a time instead of trying to grasp everything at once. The vague order becomes a list that can actually be worked through.

A concrete tip: always start with the most visible category, not necessarily the most important. Quick visible progress gives the child a sense of motion, and motion is what powers the next picture. In Routined you can rebuild the visual support quickly when the room looks different, so you don't have to recopy the same sequence each time. The first fourteen days come at no cost.