LiveWyre Labs
Technology designed to make communication, time and everyday life easier to understand.
Visual Time Calendar
Making the invisible concept of time visible
Most calendars tell a child what is happening and when. However, they assume the child already understands what time means.
For many autistic children, phrases such as “in 10 minutes,” “next Friday” or “later this month” do not create a clear mental picture. Time is invisible, abstract and constantly changing. Traditional calendars and visual schedules may organize activities without helping a child visualize how long something will last, how far away it is or how different periods of time compare.
LiveWyre Labs is developing a calendar that translates time into clear visual concepts. Length, space, colour, symbols and familiar visual references help children see and compare amounts of time rather than relying only on words, dates and numbers.
The calendar is designed to make time more concrete, connected and meaningful—helping children understand what has finished, where they are now, what is coming next and how far away it is.
Families and professionals:
Join the pilot list
Funders and organizations:
Discuss a partnership
Moving beyond the visual schedule
A visual schedule can show a child the order of activities. However, knowing what happens next is not the same as understanding time.
A child may recognize that swimming happens after school without understanding whether it begins in 10 minutes or three hours. They may see a birthday on a calendar without understanding how far away it is. They may also know that two activities are both happening today without realizing that one will last much longer than the other.
The Visual Time Calendar is being designed to build these missing connections.
It does not simply attach pictures to scheduled activities. It creates a visual representation of time itself, allowing the child to compare:
-
A short amount of time with a longer amount of time
-
An event happening soon with one happening further away
-
Time that has passed with time that remains
-
One day with a week
-
One week with a month
-
One month with a season
-
An expected plan with a changed plan
How it works
1. The child sees where they are in time
The calendar clearly identifies today and places it within the current week, month, season and year.
Past time, the present moment and future time are visually differentiated so the child can see what has finished, where they are now and what is still to come.
2. Time is represented visually
Different amounts of time are translated into visual concepts that can be seen and compared.
Depending on the child’s needs, this may include:
-
Shorter and longer visual bars
-
Blocks representing consistent amounts of time
-
Shaded sections showing how much time has passed
-
Remaining sections showing how much time is left
-
Spatial distance between today and a future event
-
Colour bands connecting months to seasons
-
Symbols representing different units of time
-
Visual countdowns that change as an event approaches
For example, 10 minutes may be represented by one small block, while one hour is represented by six of the same blocks. This allows the child to see that one hour is substantially longer than 10 minutes.
3. Visual time is connected to familiar experiences
The visual representation can also be paired with an experience the child already understands.
For example:
-
10 minutes may be shown as one small time block and compared with colouring one page
-
30 minutes may be shown as three blocks and compared with one familiar television episode
-
One hour may be shown as six blocks and compared with two episodes
-
Three hours may be shown as a much longer section and compared with a morning at school
The familiar activity helps give the time personal meaning, while the visual representation allows the child to see and compare its duration.
These comparisons can be individualized because the experiences that make time meaningful will be different for every child.
4. The child explores connected levels of time
The child can move between visual representations of:
-
Today
-
This week
-
This month
-
Last month
-
Next month
-
The current season
-
The year
Each view shows how smaller units fit within larger ones. A day can be seen within a week, a week within a month and a month within a season and year.
5. Events are placed within a visual timeline
Each event can show:
-
What is happening
-
When it is happening
-
How far away it is
-
Approximately how long it will last
-
Where it will happen
-
Who will be there
-
What will happen before it
-
What may happen during it
-
What will happen afterwards
This allows the child to see an event as part of a larger sequence rather than as an isolated picture or calendar entry.
6. The visual changes as time moves
As time passes, the representation changes with it.
Completed sections are visually marked as finished, the current point remains clear and the amount of time remaining becomes smaller. This makes the movement of time visible instead of allowing events simply to appear and disappear.
What the Calendar Supports
The Visual Time Calendar is being developed to help children visualize and understand:
-
Short and long amounts of time
-
How different durations compare
-
How much time has passed
-
How much time remains
-
How far away an event is
-
Today, yesterday and tomorrow
-
Before, now, next, later and after
-
Days, weeks, months, seasons and years
-
Past, present and future
-
The order of planned events
-
What has already finished
-
What is still to come
-
Changes to an expected plan
-
How smaller units of time fit within larger ones
The broader aim is to help children develop an internal understanding of time that can eventually support planning, communication, preparation and greater independence.
What makes it different?
It visually represents time itself
Many visual schedules use pictures to represent activities. The Visual Time Calendar also uses visual concepts to represent the amount, movement and position of time.
It makes duration visible
A child can see that 10 minutes is shorter than one hour because the two durations occupy different amounts of visual space.
It supports comparison
Consistent blocks, bars, colours and spatial relationships allow a child to compare one duration with another.
It connects visual time to meaningful experiences
Abstract units are paired with familiar experiences, helping the child connect the visual representation with something they already know.
It shows time passing
The calendar visually distinguishes elapsed time from remaining time, helping the child see that a waiting period is gradually becoming shorter.
It connects smaller and larger units
Today is shown within a week, the week within a month and the month within a season and year.
It prepares the child for the whole event
The child can see what will happen before, during and after an activity, as well as how long each part may last.
It explains changes visually
When a plan changes, the original expectation can be visibly updated so the child can compare what was planned with what will happen instead.
Designed around the challenge of understanding invisible concepts
The Visual Time Calendar is informed by current neuroscience and developmental research into how the autistic brain may process time, sequence, prediction and transitions differently.
Time is especially difficult because it is invisible. A child cannot directly see 10 minutes, hold one hour or look at next week.
Words and numbers may label an amount of time without creating a meaningful mental representation of it.
The calendar bridges this gap by translating time into concrete visual relationships:
-
Length represents duration
-
Space represents distance in time
-
Blocks represent measurable units
-
Shading represents elapsed and remaining time
-
Position represents before, now and after
-
Colour and symbols connect days, months and seasons
-
Familiar visual references give abstract time personal meaning
These representations remain consistent so the child can gradually build connections between what they see and the language used to describe time.
The calendar does not assume that every autistic child experiences or understands time in the same way. Families will be able to individualize the visual format, level of detail and meaningful comparisons according to their child’s needs.
Designed around the Cognition–Communication Connection
The Calendar is built around LiveWyre Learning’s Cognition–Communication Connection: the understanding that communication depends on more than knowing words.
Currently in development
The Visual Time Calendar is currently in the prototype and development stage.
We are working to ensure that it is:
-
Focused on visually teaching time rather than only displaying events
-
Consistent across different units and views
-
Clear without being visually overwhelming
-
Flexible enough for different levels of understanding
-
Easy for families to personalize
-
Accessible across different communication and learning profiles
-
Informed by autistic individuals, families and relevant professionals
-
Designed to build understanding rather than dependence on prompts
Who is it for?
The Visual Time Calendar is designed for autistic children and young people who find the abstract concept of time difficult to understand.
It may help children who struggle to:
-
Understand phrases such as “later,” “soon” or “next week”
-
Visualize how long something will last
-
Understand how far away an event is
-
Connect days, weeks, months and seasons
-
Wait for anticipated events
-
Manage transitions or changes to plans
-
Understand what has finished and what will happen next
It may also support individuals with ADHD, language-processing differences, learning disabilities or other developmental needs. The visual format can be personalized to each child’s current understanding.
For parents, educators and professionals
The Visual Time Calendar is designed for consistent use at home, school and in therapeutic settings.
It can help adults:
-
Explain time using clear, consistent visual concepts
-
Prepare a child for upcoming events
-
Show how long an activity or waiting period will last
-
Make transitions and changes to plans easier to understand
-
Connect daily activities to days, weeks, months and seasons
-
Personalize time comparisons around the child’s familiar experiences
-
Gradually involve the child in planning their own time
Parents, educators and professionals can work from the same visual system, helping the child build an understanding of time that transfers across different settings.
Currently in development
The Visual Time Calendar is currently in the prototype and development stage.
We are working to ensure that it is:
-
Focused on visually teaching time rather than only displaying events
-
Consistent across different units and views
-
Clear without being visually overwhelming
-
Flexible enough for different levels of understanding
-
Easy for families to personalize
-
Accessible across different communication and learning profiles
-
Informed by autistic individuals, families and relevant professionals
-
Designed to build understanding rather than dependence on prompts
Help shape the future of accessible time technology
We are inviting autistic individuals, parents, educators, therapists, researchers and specialist organizations to follow the calendar’s development.
Join our interest list to receive updates, view future demonstrations and hear about opportunities to participate in research, testing and pilot programs.
LiveWyre Labs is interested in connecting with funders, researchers, accessibility specialists, developers and organizations working in autism, education, child development and assistive technology.