Strategies 0.1
Strategies I’ve developed over the years to cope with the autism I didn’t know I had - Part 1
Tables
I love timetables. I remember my first year at secondary school and getting my first planner. I recall looking through it and noticing all the spaces for the timetable, the lists, and the section to write homework or notes each day. I enjoyed filling in my subjects and colour-coding them. At that time, the code was random—just whatever looked nice on the page. I wrote in my neatest handwriting and made sure to shade each rectangle so that each stroke was parallel to the one next to it. It was perfect.
To be honest, like most children, my planner didn’t stay neat and tidy for long; the handwriting became messier as the weeks went on, and the planner itself became dog-eared in my bag. However, each year I looked forward to completing a new timetable. As I learned several instruments and took part in extra-curricular activities, I had to fill in many more timetables throughout my school career.
My genuine love and appreciation for timetables grew as I began working in education, especially when I finally attended university to pursue my teaching degree. This was when I truly started to understand the art of timetabling and the satisfaction of its practicality. One of the many handbooks we received on our first day at Teacher Training College was the National Curriculum. Within that book were thousands of objectives to be taught to the children of the nation, all categorised by age groups and subjects, and the entire document was colour-coded!
Yellow was for literacy.
Blue was maths
Orange was science
History was purple
There was a whole rainbow of school subjects.
I loved it. It was ideal for helping me get organised.
I bought a hard-backed ring binder in each colour, and I even found a notepad with colour-coded pages. My notes on the lectures for each subject, my lesson plans, resources, and assessments—everything for each subject belonged in the colour-coded folder.
Every timetable I created, whether for myself as a student teacher or for the students I taught, I would colour-code in the same way, from that time onwards and throughout my teaching career.
Yellow was for literacy.
Blue was maths
Orange was science
History was purple
Every timetable I wrote.
I even use timetables in my life at home, especially during the holidays. I create timetables to show how my daughter and I plan to spend our days and weeks. I include fixed events, such as visiting friends or coach trips, and then fill the remaining time with days out, trips to the park, lunches at home, rest days, and so on. I always make sure to keep a balanced week and include rest days to avoid overdoing things. My health was becoming more fragile, making this especially important.
In preparation for the recovery period after one of my surgeries, I even prearranged with my friends when they would visit and created a timetable for this as well. I was trying to regain some control in an uncontrollable situation. And that is the beauty of a well-organised, colour-coded timetable. It’s about control. You can see at a glance where you are supposed to be and what you are supposed to be doing. It’s an
attempt to claim control of a world where you feel constantly out of control. Where you are subject to the rules and conventions of others, rules you do not always understand or agree with, but rules you have learned by heart, rules you are committed to following to fit in. Or to not stand out. To not appear different. Because you know that if you do not follow those rules, people will realise you are different, and you will be rejected…..
The other important aspect of timetables, which is why I still try to use them in my life now for myself and my daughter, is this: without a clear timetable in place, nothing gets done. If my day isn't organised, I simply lose all sense of time. When my daughter’s dad first moved out and she started spending weekends with him, I would spend whole days alone doing nothing; I’d be sitting on the sofa reading, marking books, or watching rubbish telly. Before I knew it, the whole day had gone, and I hadn’t eaten, bathed, or had a drink or anything. I wondered if I was depressed, but I wasn’t! I realised that, without the routine of caring for a young child, I lost my own sense of routine. Unless I wrote down what to do and when to do it, it just didn’t happen. So, I created laundry, cooking, and cleaning timetables to ensure these tasks got done.
I still need timetables, but I try to be more relaxed about them. However, it remains true that things don’t get done without them. I can spend hours in my studio creating new jewellery and completely lose track of time. I tend to procrastinate and avoid ‘unwanted’ tasks for days and weeks, even after scheduling them into my week. It’s something I still struggle with. I don’t really know what the answer is. My aversion to certain tasks, usually paperwork, causes anxiety and can be almost physically painful at times.
It’s almost as if I'm hoping that fitting them into my schedule will help me get these things done.
I’m still waiting.
