For grown-ups
VisitTots is a gentle rehearsal for an outing. Knowing what happens next — and having one calm thing to do at each step — takes the surprise out of a new place. It's the idea behind a museum's pre-visit guide, made small and child-owned.
How to use it together
- Pick the outing you're getting ready for: the museum, the doctor, a haircut, the store, or the first day.
- Put the story in order. What happens first? What happens next? (A little sequencing game.)
- Walk through it. Each step reads its line and one coping move — “if it's loud, I can cover my ears”; “I can hold a hand”; “I can take a breath.” Practise the move together.
- At the end, print the plan (or read it again). Read it a few times in the days before — that's what makes it work.
On the day
Open the plan on your phone and let your child check off each step as it happens. The last step is always going home — a child who knows the last step can get through the middle.
What it's for (and what we don't claim)
VisitTots is a calm advance-organizer — anticipation, sequencing, and a co-authored plan (the ideas behind DIR/Floortime and pre-visit priming). It is not a therapy or a medical device, and it makes no claim that it “reduces meltdowns” or changes a diagnosis. It simply lowers surprise and gives your child a plan they helped make.