Read a book
Reading a book sounds like one move but is actually several. Choosing, finding, starting. The pictures below unpack the runway, so the small decisions do not eat the whole appetite for reading.
♂Boy reading book
A boy sits and reads a red book.
♂Boy reading book
A boy sits and reads a blue book.
♂Read book
A person is sitting cross-legged, happily reading an open book.
♂Read book
A boy reading a red book.
♀Read book
A girl with afro hair is reading a book.
♀Read book
A girl with long hair is reading a book.
♀Read book
A girl reads a book.
♀Read book
A girl reads a book.
About this visual support
What looks like a calm activity, sitting down to read, is in practice a small chain of executive decisions. Which book. Where is it. Which page was I on. Do I still want this one. For a child who already loses the thread between rooms, the runway can stretch longer than the reading itself, and the appetite often runs out before the book is even open.
Visual support moves those decisions out of the head and onto the table. When a picture shows the book on the shelf, the bookmark between the pages, and the usual reading chair, the child does not have to hold every choice at once. One step at a time gets easier when you can see the step in front of you instead of hunting for it.
A tip specific to reading a book: give the bookmark its own picture, its own step. Children who lose their place are helped more by finding the page again than by being told to keep reading. To save the reading session as a routine you can reuse, Routined is free to try for fourteen days.