Make a list of chores that can realistically be assigned to your special needs child. Things such as taking out the kitchen garbage, dusting or emptying the wastebaskets are realistic, for example, while spring cleaning, preparing dinner or mowing the lawn might be better accomplished by other family members.
Get a piece of poster board. With the board positioned horizontally, create seven columns. Label them Sunday through Saturday. Draw horizontal lines across the page, creating rectangular spaces in which you can write the chores for each day. Another option is to make or download a template that you can hand out every Sunday morning with the chores for the week marked.
Use a pencil and write in the chores that need to be done. Monday, for instance, might be the day for dusting the living room. The kitchen garbage, however, needs to be taken out every day, including the weekends, so it would need to be listed every day.
Include visual prompts if your special needs child has problems reading. The sign for emptying the wastebaskets on Tuesdays and Fridays, for instance, could be a photo of a wastebasket.
Color coordinate the chores. For example, use red for taking out the kitchen garbage, blue for emptying the wastebaskets and green for dusting. The sooner your special needs child learns to associate the color with the task, the less frequently he will need to be reminded. Use bright colors. Color gets children's attention, which is exactly what you want.
Set up an "I did it" component for your chore chart. If you are using weekly chore charts, your special needs child can give himself a star when he makes his bed in the morning, for example. If you put your chore chart on the fridge, have reusable sticky notes with smiley faces your child can put over the chore when it is complete. The notes can be recycled for the next week.