First this, then that

The sheet

Four cards to cut out, each with a box for the thing your child does first and a box for what comes next, to draw in or stick a photograph on. The back of each card says how to use it.

Cards to cut out · A4, four cards to cut, two sides · Two pages · PDF, 59 KB

How it helps

For a young child, or a child who finds changes hard, a picture of what happens first and what comes next makes a hard moment easier to predict, and cuts down the words you need. Fewer words, calmly said, usually mean less of a battle.

How to use it

1. Print on both sides, flipping on the long edge, and cut out the four cards. The back of each card says how to use it.
2. Choose one hard moment in the day, such as leaving the park, the bath or the tablet going off, and draw the first thing and the next, or stick on photographs.
3. Give your child a warning first, then point at the card when it’s time: “First bath, then story.” Say little, and wait.
4. Keep “then” to something that was happening anyway, and don’t take it away if “first” goes badly.

How to get this sheet

This sheet comes with a subscription. It is also yours with its chapter, if that is the chapter you read free, or if a teacher or therapist sends it to you. School staff and therapists signed in to their shelf can print it too.

The first chapter you open here is free to read in full, with its sheets. This one goes with Big Feelings and Co-Regulation and Neurodiversity, and the Conversation with the School.

Free to print

These are free to anyone, with nothing to sign up for.

• A plan for a bad dayTo fill in together · A4
• Before you ring the schoolFor a call or a meeting · A4
• What to say: school and friendsCards to cut out · A4, eight cards to cut
• Before the SENCo meetingFor a meeting · A4
• Three reports, side by sideFor a meeting · A4 landscape
• The return-to-school meetingFor a meeting · A4
• The move to secondary school, for a parents’ eveningFor a parents’ evening · A4, five pages
• The last half-hour before bedFor the fridge · A4
• The worry ladderTo fill in together · A4
• Before you see the GP about your childFor an appointment · A4, two sides
• A record of what happenedFor a call or a meeting · A4, two pages
• The people I can tellTo make together · A4, two pages

Every sheet, marked free or with a subscription, is at theparentbook.com/printables.