Routines Toolkit

A teacher and student with headphones sit at a table and smile while putting a cheese topping on mini pizzas.

Routines provide structure and predictability and are a key component of a student’s overall communication system, particularly for learners who are deafblind or have visual and multiple impairments. Consistent routines support anticipation, reduce stress, and create meaningful connections between actions and events.

The Texas Deafblind Project encourages those who support deafblind students to utilize the resources in the following Routines Toolkit, which includes purpose, guiding questions, examples, and adaptable templates to support implementation with students who have complex access needs.

Materials to Help You Get Started

Example Routine Videos

Ice Cream Routine Video

 

Breakfast Routine Video

Bowl to Sink Routine Video

Instructional Strategies Menu

Example Routine Sheets

More Sample Routine Sheets

Customizable Routine Templates 

Additional Resources 

Curriculum Standards

Teachers can use the following curriculum standards and objectives to create lesson plans or goals and objectives for individualized education plans (IEPs). These are a few examples. 

English Language Arts & Reading TEKS (Print Awareness & Sequencing)

    • ELA.K.2.D.ii — Students are expected to demonstrate print awareness, including holding a book right-side up, turning pages correctly, and knowing that reading moves from top to bottom and left to right with return sweep.

Social Studies TEKS (Time & Chronology Concepts) Kindergarten TEKS

Includes time and sequencing language that clearly ties to predictable routines and temporal concepts:

    • K.14(A) — Place events in chronological order (e.g., before/after/next). 

    • K.14(B) — Use social studies terminology related to time and chronology correctly, such as before, after, next, first, last, yesterday, today, tomorrow. 

Objective(s):

    • The student will anticipate what comes next during activities.

    • The student will build understanding of activities through repeated, meaningful experiences.

    • The student will use external structure to support organization and participation.

    • The student will engage more fully in learning with reduced stress and effort.

 

Questions about the Routines Toolkit? Reach out to our team at txdeafblindproject@tsbvi.edu.