Backpack
Packing right asks the child to juggle several things at once: today's timetable, what's needed, where each item lives now. The visual support below moves that list out of their head and into the hallway, where it can be checked off.
Backpack
A blue backpack with black shoulder straps, a yellow zipper, a light blue front pocket, and green side pockets.
About this visual support
Packing is an executive task in disguise. The child has to remember today's lessons, translate them into objects, hunt each object down in the house and get them all into one bag – before you have to leave. If something gets missed, it doesn't show up until mid-morning, when the teacher asks for it.
With visual support the packing list lives outside the child. The cards show not just 'what' but an order: pencil case first, then today's books, then the PE bag if there's PE, then lunchbox, then water bottle. With the order fixed, the child doesn't have to start from scratch each morning, and you don't have to repeat the same reminders in the same tone.
A practical tip: keep two versions – a base list (every day) and a weekday-specific add-on (PE kit Tuesday, art smock Thursday). The extras show only when needed, without stretching the base. In Routined both can sit side by side in the hall, so the right list goes with the day instead of being rebuilt from zero every morning.