If you’re at all like me, back-to-school 2020 hit like a ton of bricks! I find myself still in adjustment mode both as a parent and an educator. I thought I was prepared after a few months of remote learning in the Spring, but everything feels totally different now. I’m still figuring out why. One of my theories is that our bodies and brains are no longer in survival mode. But the needs of our children, now that summer is over, require immense energy and innovation. This goes for their general daily needs as well as their educational needs. These two things are more enmeshed than ever. And, that immense energy and innovation is required of us as parents as well as our child’s providers.
I personally am finding articles written by parents and teachers to be a good source of inspiration these days. My energy is at least a little renewed when I read about how others are coping. So, in today’s post, we’ll be tackling one area of at-home learning: the daily schedule. My hope is that providing some examples will inspire you, a fellow parent in the back-to-school trenches. These schedules are intended to be modifiable. As always, accommodations and modifications are a critical component of successful education for children with autism and other special needs. You can adjust them to fit whatever schedule your school has provided for your child. After the schedules, you’ll see three extension strategies to help you adapt these long-term.
Schedule 1 (for the early riser)
- 7:00: Start morning routine
- Use a light-based clock like this one or this one for kids who wake up early and need to know when to stay in their room and rest or read, and when it’s OK to get up.
- 8:00: Start school day
- Many schools are doing two to three hour blocks of “live” or “synchronous” school in the mornings. These are broken up like:
- 8:00 Morning Meeting
- 8:30 Reading / ELA
- 9:30 Break and Snack
- 9:45 Math
- 10:45 Class Check-In
- 11:00 “Sign Off” (many teachers will instruct students to de-video and mute themselves during this time, rather than exit the meeting completely, before they walk away from the computer)
- 11:00: Lunch
- I suggest making snacks available before lunch time, especially if your child is an early riser. This way they won’t be starving once lunch time arrives. Experiment with making the lunch block longer – 90 minutes to 2 hours – to facilitate rest and exercise time as well.
- 1:00: Second half of school day
- Example afternoon block schedules might look like this:
- 1:00 Science or Social Studies
- 2:00 Small Groups / Rotations
- 2:45 Independent learning time
- 3:30 “Sign Off”
- Example afternoon block schedules might look like this:
- 3:30: Parent-child check-in
- This is a good time to see if your child has any homework or outstanding assignments. You can make a plan with them to complete the activities necessary, whether it’s on the same day or later in the week (many school districts are assigning Wednesdays to be fully independent, with no “live” classes).
- 4:00: Afternoon activity: get outdoors if possible. If it is not possible to go outside, help your child select a specific activity to do together, such as a short puzzle, board game, or LEGOs. Spend about ten minutes “front loading” your child with attention and coaching at the beginning of the activity. Then, if they can sustain play for the next ten to twenty minutes, that gives you time to step away to start dinner, close out work emails for the day, or tend to another daily task.
- 5:30: Dinner
- 6:00: Bedtime routine (includes shower or bath)
- 6:45: Reading time in bed
- 7:30: Lights out
- My children fall asleep with the light on. We have other cues that represent “lights out.” For my son, this is setting aside the book he is reading on his tablet. For my daughter, this is putting away her books and getting tucked in with her pacifier and stuffed animal. I go back in later before I go to bed to turn the light off.
Schedule 2 (for the midmorning riser)
- 9:00: Start morning routine
- 9:30: Start school day
- If your teacher isn’t starting the morning meeting until 9:30, this should work fine. Or, if you are homeschooling, you can adjust the start time to fit your needs. Additionally, your child’s school day might not start with a morning meeting – students might be expected to do independent work in the mornings. This could allow a later “start time” for your child. Talk to your teacher to find out your options.
- 11:30: Lunch
- 1:00: Second half of school day
- 3:30: Parent-child check-in
- This is a good time to see if your child has any homework or outstanding assignments. You can make a plan with them to complete the activities necessary, whether it’s on the same day or later in the week (many school districts are assigning Wednesdays to be fully independent, with no “live” classes).
- 4:30: Afternoon activity (outdoors or indoors)
- 6:00: Dinner
- 6:30: Bedtime routine (includes shower or bath)
- 7:15: Reading time in bed
- 8:00 – 8:30: Lights out
Schedule 3 (for the late sleeper)
You may have a teen in your household who tends to stay up later and wake up later. The schedule above can still be adjusted to fit a much later wake up time. However, managing the later night bedtimes can be a bit more difficult. If you have a child who can do independent leisure activities for a couple of hours before going to sleep, the following schedule may work for you.
- 10:30: Start morning routine
- 11:00: Start school day
- This time frame obviously isn’t likely to work if you are participating in a public or private school program, but check with the teacher just in case. If your child requires more radical schedule modifications to be successful, they may be able to facilitate an alternate schedule with you.
- 1:00: Lunch
- 1:30: Second half of school day
- 4:30: Parent-child check-in
- 5:30: Late afternoon / early evening activity (outdoors or indoors)
- 7:00: Dinner
- 7:30: Bedtime routine (includes shower or bath)
- 8:15: Independent activities and reading in bedroom
- 10:00: Lights out
Extension Strategies:
Cut: You will have days when there are just too many activities in the schedule. You might end up skipping whole blocks that are on the schedule (like the afternoon activity, if your child had a longer homework assignment that day). Or, you might find that the morning learning session runs all the way into the lunch period. You can cut out the longer portions of the lunch time to get back on track with the afternoon schedule if this happens. If you find that an activity is running behind early in the day, plan ahead to what future blocks in the day you can cut.
Expand: Similarly, you’ll have days when there just doesn’t seem to be enough to do to fill every block. These are great days to bring out some of those rainy day activities: puzzles, play dough, and baking brownies or muffins from a box. You can also extend certain academic activities. For example, play the audiobook version of the book your child is working on reading. For children who are just starting to read, you can find Youtube readings of lots of popular early readers online. For the late afternoon and before dinner period, you can expand activities by involving your child in the set-up and clean-up process. For example, if you are going for a walk, help your child go through each of the prep steps. They can get the water bottles ready, find jackets, put on shoes, and find keys. Coach them through each step and provide the help needed. This takes a long time, but if you have extra time to fill anyway, it’s a great way for them to practice new skills.
Move On: Many families get to a point where they are ready to move on from an exact schedule. You may find you get into a daily rhythm and routine that works pretty well. If you are able to modify it as needed on a day to day basis, you can let go of the hour by hour breakdown. Just be ready to re-integrate it at the next transition (when school onsite resumes for at least part of the week, for example).
Courtney Gutierrez, M.Ed., BCBA, LBA Courtney is a behavior analyst, educator, and writer in the Pacific Northwest. She has over fifteen years of experience in the field of autism services, and over ten years of master’s level experience in classroom teaching and ABA therapy. Her areas of expertise include infant and toddler development, parent coaching, ABA clinical leadership and training, P-12 special education, and case consultation for children and young adults with autism and other special needs. Courtney lives in Seattle with her husband and two children.