Reading your school or college timetable  

Activity name and materials required

How to do the activity 

Key principles for doing the activity/ comments 

Strategies

The following might be helpful:

Laminated copy of the student’s timetable

Whiteboard pen

Self adhesive Velcro

Card, pen, scissors etc.

Make sure everything (i.e. lunch, break time, assembly etc.) is shown on the timetable, not just lessons.

Add symbols to everything on the timetable to help with reading difficulties (e.g. French could have a French flag, PE could have a trainer, lunch time could have a knife and fork) - you could use commercial software such as “Boardmaker” or “Writing with Symbols” or use clip-art images.

Have corresponding symbols on classroom doors so the student can check they are in the right place.

If the school has a two-week timetable, print the timetables on different coloured paper and mount them back to back. Have a corresponding coloured flag or marker at the entrance to help the students to know which side of the timetable to look at.

If the student has difficulty keeping track of which day it is, stick a strip of loop Velcro down the left hand side. Make an arrow which says:

Stick a piece of loop Velcro on the back. The student can use the arrow to point at the appropriate day.

If the student has difficulty keeping track of which lesson it is, provide them with a laminated timetable and a whiteboard pen. Encourage them to cross off each lesson as it ends. The first uncrossed off lesson should therefore be next. Each Monday, they will need to wipe the timetable clean for the next week.

You can use the Commtap Symboliser for PowerPoint to add symbols to your timetable.

Practice

Copy of the student’s timetable;

Cards with the days of the week (Monday-Friday only);

Cards describing different lessons (e.g. ‘first lesson’, ‘last lesson’, ‘lesson before break’, ‘lesson after break, ‘lesson before lunch’, lesson after lunch’ etc).

Shuffle the days of the week cards and put them in one pile.

Shuffle the lesson cards and put them in another pile.

Have the student turn over one ‘day’ card and one ‘lesson’ card and identify that lesson on their timetable (e.g. last lesson on Thursday.)