Read a book and listen to a story
Sitting still and following a story at the same time asks two things of a child at once: a body that slows down and a mind that keeps the thread. The visual schedule below makes the reading moment easier to settle into.
♂Boy listening to a story while reading
A boy wearing blue headphones holds an open book and listens to a story at the same time.
About this visual support
Stillness is a skill of its own. Staying on the sofa or lying in bed while your thoughts follow a story means slowing the body and holding the thread at the same time, and for many children those two demands collide. The book gets put down after two pages, and the calm you were aiming for never quite arrives.
A picture sequence gives the reading moment a shape a child can see. The images show where you sit, what to fetch, whether it is a paper book or headphones and an audiobook, and how many chapters or stories the moment contains. Knowing how long something lasts is often exactly what lets a child relax inside it.
One thing that helps with reading in particular: let the child choose the book before the quiet moment starts, not during it. Choosing wakes up energy, and that energy needs time to settle before the first page is turned. In Routined the reading moment can sit at the end of the evening routine with your own pictures and a timer that shows when the story ends, and the app can be tried for 14 days at no cost.
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.