Remember gym bag
The gym bag has to survive a whole morning of breakfast, brushing teeth and stubborn shoes without being forgotten. The visual support below lifts that load out of the head and into a picture on the wall.
♂Remember gym bag
A hand holds a gym bag, with a thought bubble containing a face icon and a refresh icon, symbolizing remembering to bring the gym bag.
♂Boy with gym bag
A boy holds and points at his blue gym bag with a paw print, and a thought bubble with a gym bag icon above his head.
♀Remember gym bag
Illustration of a gym bag with a thought bubble showing a brain and checkmarks.
About this visual support
Working memory is small and mornings are full. Holding on to information about a gym bag through every other step, from waking up to crossing the threshold, is an executive demand neither children nor adults are built for. The problem is not forgetfulness, the problem is overload.
Visual support solves this by moving the information out of the head and into the environment. A picture of the bag taped to the front door or the bedside lamp says the same thing every morning, without anyone having to remind. Children with ADHD benefit especially because they do not have to carry the data themselves, but the same effect applies to any younger child.
One concrete tip: pack the bag the night before while you look at the next morning´s visual schedule together. The picture then stops being a demand at breakfast and becomes confirmation of something already done. In Routined you can link the bag to specific weekdays so it shows up on Tuesday and Thursday but stays out of the schedule the rest of the week.