What is a Now and Next board?
A Now and Next board is one of the simplest and most useful visual supports in SEN. It shows a child two things: what is happening now, and what will happen next. That's it. The whole point is to make the immediate future predictable.
For autistic children, ADHD children, and many other neurodivergent young people, transitions are often the hardest part of the day. Stopping a preferred activity, moving from one place to another, switching from screens to dinner — these are the moments where meltdowns, refusals, and overwhelm tend to happen. The Now-Next board doesn't remove transitions, but it makes them visible in advance, which dramatically reduces the shock of being asked to stop something abruptly.
This tool lets you build a Now-Next board (or Now-Next-Then if you want a third step) in under a minute, using free ARASAAC pictograms. You can print it, display it on a tablet, or just hold up the screen to show your child what's coming.
Why Now-Next boards work
Three things make Now-Next boards consistently effective:
Predictability reduces anxiety. When a child knows what's coming, the brain doesn't have to use cognitive resources monitoring for unexpected changes. For autistic children specifically, the relief of knowing "what comes next" is often visible — shoulders drop, breathing slows, agitation reduces.
Visuals don't disappear like spoken words. A spoken instruction lasts a second and is gone. A visual stays on the page. A child who needs more processing time can look at it again. A child with auditory processing differences gets the information through a clearer channel. A child who is dysregulated can be silently redirected to the board rather than having more verbal demands placed on them.
The "next" creates motivation. If "next" is something the child enjoys, the board becomes a tool for getting through the current task. "First we tidy up the toys (Now), then iPad time (Next)" makes the cleanup feel finite and worthwhile. The structure itself — first this, then that — is the same first/then language that behaviour analysts have used for decades.
When to use a Now-Next board
A Now-Next board is most useful at specific moments rather than all day. Common high-value uses:
Before a hard transition. Set up the board five minutes before the change you know will be difficult — leaving the playground, ending screen time, getting in the car. Show the child what's about to happen and what comes after it. The five minutes of warning is often enough.
During the after-school window. Many SEN children find the move from school structure to home unstructured time genuinely disorienting. A Now-Next board for the first hour at home — Now: snack, Next: free time — gives the day shape without imposing a full timetable.
Around medical or dental appointments. Now: waiting room. Next: see the dentist. Then: ice cream on the way home. The third "Then" slot is particularly valuable here because it gives the child something positive to focus on past the difficult part.
For non-verbal children whose anxiety is invisible. A child who can't tell you they're worried about what's coming may still be carrying that load. The board makes the future visible to them in a way they can understand.
In school settings. Teaching assistants, SENCos, and inclusion staff often use Now-Next boards as part of a child's daily support, particularly during the parts of the day that don't have a fixed visual schedule (transitions between subjects, break times, after assemblies).
Now-Next vs visual timetable — which to use?
Both are visual schedules but they answer different questions, and using the wrong one for a situation makes it less effective.
A visual timetable shows a longer sequence — a whole day, a school timetable, a morning routine. It's good for children who can hold multiple steps in mind and benefit from seeing the day's overall shape. The trade-off is complexity: lots of cards on a board can overwhelm a child who's already dysregulated.
A Now-Next board is deliberately minimal. Two or three steps, no more. It's the right tool when a child is anxious, when they're young, when they have working-memory difficulties, when the situation is novel, or when an activity transition is genuinely the only thing they need to focus on right now.
Many families use both — a full visual timetable for the day's structure, then a Now-Next board pulled out specifically for hard transitions. The Now-Next zooms in on what matters in the moment.
How to use this tool
Choose what's "now" and "next." Click each slot and search for a matching pictogram — type "snack," "school," "bath," "iPad," "park," whatever fits. The tool searches the ARASAAC pictogram library and shows you matching options. Pick the one that fits.
Optionally add a "then." The third slot gives you a Now-Next-Then board, which is useful for difficult transitions where you want to show the child what's coming after the hard bit. You can turn the Then slot off if you only want two steps.
Customise the appearance. Different children find different layouts easier — labels above or below the picture, different background colours, different sizes. The defaults work for most children but adjust if your child responds better to something specific.
Save, print, or display on screen. Your board saves to your device automatically — close the page and come back later, it'll still be there. Print to make a physical copy you can stick on the fridge or laminate for repeat use. Or just hold up the screen.
The tool is designed to be quick because the moments you need it are usually moments you don't have time to fiddle with software. From a blank board to a printable Now-Next is genuinely under a minute once you've used it once.
Tips that make a real difference
Use it before the difficult moment, not during. The board's job is to give advance warning. Pulling it out mid-meltdown doesn't work — the child is already past the point where new information helps. Set it up while the child is still regulated.
Be specific about "next." "Tidy up" then "later" doesn't help. "Tidy up" then "iPad" does. The child needs to know what they're working towards. Vague rewards don't motivate.
Honour what you put on the board. If you write "iPad" as Next, your child needs iPad to actually happen when Now finishes. Breaking that promise is how children stop trusting the system. If iPad won't be available, don't put it on the board — find a different motivator.
Move the cards visibly. When Now is finished, physically move the Next card into the Now slot. The visible change reinforces the structure and gives the child a concrete sense of progress. With this digital tool, you can do this by replacing the pictograms.
Don't over-rely on it. The goal isn't for a child to need a Now-Next board for every transition forever. The goal is to use it during difficult periods, then fade it as the child becomes able to handle transitions without it. Most children move from "always needs the board" to "needs it for new situations only" over months or years.
Match the child's attention span. A young child or a very dysregulated child needs Now and Next only — even Then is too much. As the child grows, three or four steps become manageable. Trust the child's response.
About ARASAAC pictograms
The pictograms in this tool come from ARASAAC, a free pictogram library maintained by the Government of Aragón in Spain. ARASAAC pictograms are designed specifically for AAC use — visually consistent, immediately recognisable, and culturally neutral. They are used in schools and homes around the world.
This tool searches ARASAAC's live library through their public API. Credits and attribution appear on every printout, as required by ARASAAC's licence. Please leave the credit line in place when sharing or reusing.
Privacy and your data
Your boards stay on your device. Helpset does not collect or store any of the boards you build. The only network traffic the tool makes is to ARASAAC's pictogram API to fetch images.
Your saved board lives in your browser's local storage. Closing the tab keeps it safe. Clearing your browser data clears your saved boards. Switching devices means starting fresh — though making a new board takes under a minute, so this isn't usually a problem.
Other Helpset tools that work alongside this one
A Now-Next board solves the moment-to-moment transition. These other tools handle the bigger picture:
Visual Timetable — for the day's overall structure, when Now-Next isn't enough.
Visual Timer — to show how long "now" lasts when the child needs to see time passing.
Visual Communication Cards — when the child needs cards for needs and feelings, not just transitions.
Feelings tool — when "I don't want to" turns out to be an emotion the child can't yet name.
Social Story builder — for transitions that need explanation, not just a picture (e.g. first dentist visit, new school).