Read together
Reading together sounds simple, but the listener has no control over the pace. The pages turn when the other person decides, and anyone who needs to pause rarely gets a word in. The pictures below give the reading a shape both can follow.
♂Read together
An adult and a child sit together reading a red book.
♂Read together
Two boys sit side by side reading a yellow book.
♂Read together
Two boys kneel at a low table reading a purple book.
♂Read together on the mat
An adult and a child sit next to each other on a mat reading a book.
♀Read together
Two girls sit arm in arm reading a red book together.
♀Read together
A girl and a boy sit on a green bench reading a book, one of them pointing at the page.
About this visual support
Shared reading holds two roles that look alike but work differently. Whoever reads controls everything: the pace, the pauses, when the page turns. Whoever listens has to keep up with someone else's speed, hold the story in mind and at the same time look at pictures that get replaced before they have been examined. For a child who needs longer processing time that is work, not rest, and the tiredness arrives long before the book ends.
Visual support gives the listener a way into the steering. A picture meaning wait, one meaning turn the page and one meaning look again lets both influence the pace without interrupting the story with words.
A concrete tip is to let the child turn the pages. Whoever holds the book sets the tempo, and that alone is often enough to make the time calm. In Routined the reading can sit as a fixed step in the evening, and the app can be tried for fourteen 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.