As a parent navigating autism transition programs with my son Michael, I’ve learned that the most crucial element for successful respite and residential care isn’t fancy technology or expensive programs, it’s adding structure to unplanned downtime and giving our kids meaningful choices.
Key Points:
- Structure and visual schedules reduce agitation and challenging behaviors.
- Tools like Picto Selector, Choiceworks, Visual Schedule Planner by Good Karma Apps and Lil Planner: Visual Schedule build independence through choice.
- Daily routines double as life skills that boost confidence.
- Small consistent steps prepare autistic kids for long-term success.
Why Structure Matters in Autism Transition Programs
After working with various autism transition programs, I’ve discovered that big pockets of unstructured time can quickly turn from peaceful moments into challenging behaviors. For Michael, and perhaps for your child too, boredom often morphs into agitation, aggression, hair pulling, and even property destruction. The solution isn’t more control – it’s clear visual structure combined with meaningful choice.
Visual Schedules: The Foundation of Successful Transitions
The antidote to behavioral challenges during transitions is providing something predictable to do now and something to look forward to next. I use Picto Selector, a free Windows program created by Martijn Van Der Kooij, a father from the Netherlands who developed it for his autistic son. With over 34,000 symbols in its library, this tool has transformed how Michael navigates his day.
When Michael sits down with his support colleagues, he can see his entire afternoon or evening schedule at a glance. He knows what’s coming next, which dramatically reduces anxiety and challenging behaviors. His mother has even connected certain activities to Google Slides sequences that Michael can both see and listen to, helping train new support workers on consistent prompting techniques.
Recommended iPad Apps for Visual Scheduling
While we use Picto Selector on Windows, many families prefer iPad-based solutions for autism transition programs. Here are four highly-rated options I recommend:
Choiceworks stands out as one of the best all-around schedule builders, offering schedule boards, waiting boards, and feelings boards with customizable photos, audio, and video. Though it starts with 180 preloaded symbols compared to Picto Selector’s 34,000, you can easily import your own images specific to your child’s environment.
First Then Visual Schedule HD provides the most flexibility for power users, including multi-step visual schedules, task analysis, social stories, and video models. It’s particularly excellent for step-by-step activities of daily living, though the interface feels somewhat dated.
Visual Schedule Planner by Good Karma Apps offers a calendar-style approach with daily, weekly, and monthly views. It includes custom images and sounds, video modeling, timers, checklists, reminders, and notes – very comprehensive for planning entire days.
Lil Planner: Visual Schedule provides the most modern and user-friendly option, designed specifically for ADHD and autism. It offers quick visual routines with big, clear icons and easy voice-free setup. It’s free with in-app purchases and has high App Store ratings, making it great for quick wins and simple routine boards.
Building Life Skills Through Structured Activities
When unstructured time threatens to derail our autism transition programs, we don’t default to aimless hangout time. Instead, we pull up the visual schedule and choose interactive activities like making beds, shooting hoops, starting laundry, or taking walks to the park. These aren’t just time fillers – they’re life skill repetitions and recreational activities that build confidence and create moments of accomplishment.
The beauty of visual scheduling in autism transition programs is flexibility. After completing harder tasks, Michael can choose from several options where order doesn’t matter. This choice gives him dignity, empowerment, and increased buy-in for more challenging moments ahead.
Communication Tools That Enhance Independence
Beyond visual scheduling, we use TouchChat on Michael’s iPad to create another layer of structured, engaging interaction. When Michael and his support worker guide choices together using TouchChat, both feel involved in activity selection, which increases engagement and reduces behavioral challenges.
This approach transforms the dynamic from management to guidance and respect. Michael isn’t being controlled. He’s being empowered to make meaningful decisions within supportive frameworks.
Preparing for Long-Term Success in Autism Transition Programs
Everything we do with visual support and structured choices prepares Michael not just for respite or residential care but for lifelong independence and self-advocacy. Every time he successfully follows a visual schedule, makes choices from structured options, or completes activity sequences, he’s building skills that serve him throughout life.
When children enter autism transition programs with experience using visual supports, structured routines, and choice-making within frameworks, they don’t start from scratch. These three critical skills ensure success in virtually any care setting.
Start Small, Build Big
If this sounds like a lot, it doesn’t have to be. Pick one app and add one routine. Keep the choices simple at first. Focus on those small wins that make both you and your kid feel like you’re getting somewhere.
I’m not talking about needing the fanciest AI programs or spending a fortune on autism transition programs. What works is predictable visuals, real choices, and lots of practice at home. Visual schedules shrink the scary unknown. Communication tools like TouchChat give our kids actual agency. Put them together, and our kids feel safer, more capable, and more like themselves.
Every small step makes a difference. If you’d like to share what’s working for your family or ask questions just email me anytime at mike@autismlabs.com.
Transcript:
Mike Carr (00:05):
Well, welcome back. You’ve heard me talk about respite and residential care over the last two episodes, but there’s one crucial piece I skipped, maybe the most important piece that makes everything else work better. So today I’ll share exactly what’s helped our family, and that’s adding structure to the parts of the day that tend to drift into unplanned downtime. I’ll show the simple tools we use, how we set them up, and how we give Michael, even though he’s mostly nonverbal, real choices that build independence and reduce stress for him, his colleagues, and for us too.
(00:47):
Make breakfast, breakfast with cereal and eggs. Wash your hands, get cut the table. Get one silk and one spoon. Get a cup, get your cereal. Get a bowl or cereal and bowl. We got the idea.
(01:15):
A little chill time can be great, especially before bed, but big pockets of unstructured time after school. On weekends, during holidays, they often turn into boredom. And for our son, maybe for your kiddo too, boredom is not where you want them to go because that can morph into agitation, that can morph into aggression, air pulling, and even property destruction. Throw on that iPad across the room. So the antidote isn’t more control, it’s clear visual structure plus meaningful choice, something predictable to do now and something to look forward to do next. So we use Picto selector to build visual schedules and step-by-step routines. It was developed by Martijn Van Der Kooij, who’s a really cool dad out of the Netherlands, who’s got an autistic son, and he created this thing really out of love and out of necessity, which of course is the same driving force that all of us as parents have for our kiddos, right?
(02:20):
It’s free for windows, and it comes with a huge symbol library, like I think 34,000 symbols. Michael can sit down with his colleagues, see the rest of his day, or see the rest of his afternoon, or see the couple hours of free time at a glance and know what’s coming next. His mom has also connected, and this is really cool. Certain activities he’s got to a set of Google Slides for. And so these are sequences that Michael can see and he can also listen to and he can swipe each step to see what’s actually going on, and that helps him and helps train new colleagues on how to deliver each prompt consistently. Now, when a colleague is with Michael and the plan does get fuzzy and there’s too much unstructured time, we just don’t want, as I mentioned, to default to this aimless hangout time, which results in boredom.
(03:11):
So we’ll pull up the visual schedule and we’ll pick something interactive. Maybe it’s making the bed or it’s shooting hoops together, or starting a load of laundry or even taking a walk to the park. Now, these just aren’t fillers. They’re life skill reps, repetitions or recreational activities that build confidence and in with hopefully a little burst of accomplishment, put smile on his face and the colleague’s face too. And often the order doesn’t always have to be rigid. After a harder task, we might go back to the visual schedule and pick from or let Michael pick from several options where it doesn’t make any difference for what order they’re in. And then letting him choose what’s next gives him the dignity. It empowers him and it boosts buy-in for him for those tougher moments that are maybe going to come later on. Now, we don’t use Michael’s iPad for his visual schedule, but there’s some great apps out there.
(04:07):
So here are four that are pretty highly rated that I want to at least mention to you to look at. The first one is Choice Works. This is considered one of the best all around schedule builders for the iPad. Like Picto selector, it offers schedule boards, plus it has waiting boards and feelings boards. You can attach your own photos, your own audio, your own video. You can manage multiple users and boards. It comes with preloaded Image Library, about 180 symbols to get you started quickly. The trade-off is that it doesn’t have the 34,000 symbols that come with Picto selector, so you’re probably going to need to import your own, even though 180 images sounds like a lot before you know it, at least in our case, you’re going to need to add a few of your own. They’re specific to your son in your environment.
(04:49):
It is a one-time paid app that I think there’s a free light version though, that you can try first. And there’s also a nice add-on called Choice Works calendar. So if you want a full picture based monthly view, give it a try. Number two is the first. Then visual schedule, HD first, then visual Schedule, hd. Now, this is the most flexible tool perhaps for the power user. It’s got lots of stuff built into it, right? You can build first, then boards, you can create multi-step visual schedules, task analysis, social stories, choice boards, and even video models. It includes timers per step, timers per schedule, and it lets you import images from multiple sources. It’s also particularly great for step-by-step activities of daily living. Now, the interface maybe is going to feel a little bit older for you, and it is a paid app, but it’s still supported.
(05:40):
It’s still actively available on the app store, and it is iPad compatible. Number three is Visual Schedule Planner by Good Karma Apps. I love Good Karma. I mean, it’s got to be a great app, right? If it comes from a company called Good Karma. This offers a calendar style approach with daily, weekly, and monthly views. It does include some custom images and sounds. It of course has timers, checklists, reminders, and notes. So it’s pretty darn comprehensive for planning that entire day. The user interface is a bit dated and makes sure it meets your iPad, iOS version and gives you the features you need before purchasing. And number four is Little Planner, LIL planner, visual schedule, and this is the most modern of the four. It has a user-friendly option designed specifically for A DHD and autism. It offers quick visual routines with big, clear icons, which I definitely need as my eyes continue to get worse and worse and easy voice free setup.
(06:39):
It’s free within app purchases, and it has high app store ratings, making it great hopefully for quick wins for you guys. And it has simple routine boards. Now the trade-off is the lighter pro features and the simple library isn’t quite as comprehensive as some of the other tools, so you’re definitely going to probably want to rely more on your own photos. Now, beyond visual scheduling, we have found that having Michael’s colleague guide him through Choices using Touch Hat on his iPad. So we have an iPad and we use TouchChat on his iPad, whereas we use Picto Select on his Windows machine, but TouchChat is pretty darn cool. It creates another layer of structured, engaging interaction. Both Michael and his support worker feel involved in selecting activities, which increases buy-in and engagement.
(07:31):
How are you? Yes, Michael. I’m pretty good. How are you? It’s good. Oh, nice. Let’s talk about, maybe you could ask what are you doing today? Oh, hey, I’m going to hang out with you and then I’m going to go to the barn. What are you doing? So first thing you got to do here, hold on. Think. What are you doing today? Walking outside? Yeah, we probably will go outside. Okay, how about we talk about the schedule so we can like breakfast? Okay, listen. Okay. Hey, serial. Yeah, serial.
(08:15):
Now we’ll pair a simple visual plan with relevant choices. And when Michael gets to make those choices, of course he feels empowered and hey, this is sort of cool, right? And then his behaviors tend to fall, that aggression tends to fade away. He’s not being managed, he’s being guided and respected with the way we use TouchChat. What we’re really talking about here in everything I’ve mentioned is preparation, not just for respite or residential care, but really for independence and for self-advocacy. Every time your child, every time our Michael successfully follows a visual schedule or makes a choice from structured options or completes a sequence of he’s building your building, your kiddo’s, building skills that will serve them throughout their lives. So when they do have to go, or you want them to try a respite care program for a weekend or maybe residential, getting ready for residential full-time care, your child won’t be starting from scratch.
(09:14):
They’re going to have the experience with visual supports, with structured routines, making choices within frameworks. These are all three of these skills are critical for success in almost any care setting. So in conclusion, to get our kids ready for respite or residential care, we really don’t need programs and we don’t need the fanciest, latest AI tech. As much as I love AI tech, what we really need are predictable visuals, real choices, and reps at home. This week, visual schedules shrink the unknown communication tools like touch chat with multiple choices, grow agency, and together they help our kids feel safer, more capable, and more themselves. Now, if today felt like a lot, I covered a lot of stuff in a very short period of time, just start tiny Pick one app and add just one routine at a time. Limit the number of choices you create and create those little small successes. And then those wins stack. And with every small step you’re building the confidence your child and your future respite or residential team will really lean on. So you’re not behind. You’re building and you’re not alone. So thank you for listening. If you found today’s episode helpful, please share it with other families who might benefit. And if you have any questions or you just want to comment on this, please email me. My email is mike@autismlabs.com. Autism labs is all one word, so until next time, take care of yourselves and take care of each other too.
