Good morning
Some children cannot say good morning on demand. The brain has not caught up, the body is still in the night gear. The visual support below gives the greeting a visible window so the first contact with the day feels softer.
♂Waving with a morning mug
A smiling man in a blue t-shirt waves with one hand and holds a steaming red mug, with a sun and a speech bubble beside him.
♂Good morning
A child stands with arms raised in front of a sunrise with a ringing alarm clock.
♂Say good morning
A child stands with arms out and a speech bubble at sunrise, with an alarm clock at their feet.
♀Good morning by the sea
A person waving in front of a sunrise over the ocean.
♀Good morning with breakfast
A person waving in front of the sun with a coffee cup and toast.
♀Morning stretch
A person stretching arms up in the air in front of a sunrise.
♀Woman stretching with coffee nearby
A long haired woman reaches both arms upwards while a yellow sun shines in the corner and a steaming cup of coffee stands beside her.
About this visual support
In the in-between of sleep and day, language moves slowest. Asking a half-awake child to answer good morning in the right tone is asking for a social act before the brain has even shifted gear, and it can land as a demand straight into a body that still mostly hears its own breathing.
With a card showing a waving hand, a hug or just a soft smile, the greeting can happen without words in those first minutes. The child points, you nod back, and contact is made with no pressure on the voice. A concrete tip is to put the good morning card by the bed the night before, so the first thing the child sees is something familiar rather than an adult waiting for an answer in the doorway. For autistic children that visual meeting can be far easier than eye contact and speech at the same time.
In the Routined app you can place good morning as the first card of the morning routine, followed by toilet, clothes and breakfast, so the whole start becomes one calm sequence. Try the app free for 14 days.
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.