Tools
A free visual timer and First/Then board
Free, simple tools for families, teachers, learning support staff and support workers who want to show someone what's coming next.
Make a First/Then board
Two big cards: what's happening now, and what comes after.
Make a schedule
A short list of steps, with pictures, that someone can follow and check off.
Coming soon
Print it out
No phone or tablet needed — print a set of blank cards and write or draw on them. If you have made a First and Then board, you can print that too.
Your boards, backups and deleting
Everything you make is listed on one page, where you can save a copy to a file, put a copy back from a file, or delete the lot.
What these tools are for
These are free planning tools for families and support workers. They help you make and print visual supports — a picture schedule (coming soon), a "first this, then that" board, and a timer that shows how long is left.
Lots of people find it much easier to cope with a change when they can see what's happening and what's coming next. That's all these are: a way of showing someone what's coming.
These tools do not assess, diagnose, screen for, or treat anything. They don't decide anything about your family member — you choose the pictures, the words and the order. They are not a behaviour support plan and they are not a substitute for one.
One honest thing worth knowing: knowing what's coming helps a lot of people, but on its own it usually isn't enough to change how someone reacts when something they love has to end. If that's the hard part, that's worth getting some help with.
Which should I use — objects, photos, symbols or words?
There's no single right answer. Try the quick test below with the person you're making it for, and see what they respond to.
| Level | Choose this if… | Try this test |
|---|---|---|
| Real objects | They don't look at pictures, or they have low vision | Hold out their cup and their shoes; ask for the cup |
| Photos | They recognise photos of their own things and people | Show a photo of their cup and their shoes; ask which is the cup |
| Symbols | They already use symbols at school or in a book | Same test, with two symbols |
| Symbols + words | Symbols work and they're starting to read | — |
| Words only | They read confidently | — |
If you're not sure, start one level more concrete than you think they need. It costs nothing to move up later.
Real objects can't live on a screen. If that's the right level, use the printed cards to label the real things — these tools can still help.
Making a visual support work
- Keep it short. Start with the hardest 20 minutes of the day, not the whole day. Three or four steps is a good first schedule.
- Put it where it's used. Somewhere it'll actually be seen — the fridge, the front door, wherever the routine happens.
- Plan for the unexpected. Use it on a good day, on purpose. If the first time anything changes is a bad day, the schedule becomes the problem.
- Practise before it matters. Try the timer on easy, low-stakes moments first, so it's familiar by the time you need it for something harder.
A visual timer for transitions
A visual timer shows how much time is left as a shape that empties, rather than a number that counts down. That makes time easier to see, not just to be told about. It works for any transition — finishing a game, getting ready to leave, or waiting for something to start.
The first time you open the timer, your browser keeps a copy of it on this device. A private or incognito window will not keep one.
There's nothing to build first. Open the timer, pick 1, 2, 5 or 10 minutes — or set your own — and start it. It works on a phone, a tablet or a computer.
What the research says
Visual supports — including picture schedules — are a well-studied way of helping autistic children and young people act more independently and follow a routine without needing extra prompts. A major 2020 review (Steinbrenner et al.) classed visual supports as an evidence-based practice on the strength of 65 supporting articles, covering people from birth to age 22.
A 2015 review of activity schedules (Knight, Sartini & Spriggs) found they work best when they are actively taught, not just handed over — shown alongside step-by-step teaching, not instead of it.
The teaching method behind that is simple to describe: do the schedule alongside the person at first, then give less help and step further back as they need less. That's the approach McClannahan and Krantz set out, and it's what most of the studies that worked were actually doing.
A small 2009 study (Waters, Lerman & Hovanetz) is the honest, harder finding. In two young boys, a picture schedule on its own did not reduce difficult behaviour during a transition, while the behaviour still worked to bring the preferred activity back. Removing what was keeping the behaviour going did reduce it — whether or not the schedule was also used. That result was repeated in 2023 (Mouzakes) with three students aged 9, 14 and 17 who already used visual supports every day.
Put together, the evidence supports what this page claims and nothing more: visual supports help people know what's coming and act on it independently. They are not, by themselves, a reliable way to change how someone reacts when something they love has to end.
Everything stays on your device
None of it is sent anywhere. There is no account, no login, no server and no upload — not switched off by default, but genuinely not built.
I have no access to anything you build. I can't look it up, I can't retrieve it, and I can't delete it for you — not because I won't, but because it never reaches me and there is nothing on my side to look at.