What happens in the story
A tooth sticker on the calendar means it's dentist day. In the waiting room, Kai sees a girl come out with a sticker. At the treatment room door he stops and holds Grandma's hand. The dentist lets him press the button to make the empty chair go up, and together they agree that a raised hand means stop. Kai opens wide for the little mirror, but the water straw is loud, so he raises his hand and the dentist stops. When he's ready again, Kai sees his teeth in a big mirror, chooses a new toothbrush and, back at home, checks his toy dinosaur's teeth.
The story is about more than the steps of a check-up. It shows a child trying things first, agreeing a signal and being listened to.
Who it's for
- Parents and carers preparing a child for a first or difficult dental visit.
- Autistic children and children with sensory sensitivities, for whom knowing the steps and having a stop signal can make a real difference.
- Speech-language pathologists working on requesting a break, retell or sequencing a familiar event.
- Preschool teachers running a "healthy teeth" or "people who help us" theme.
Skills you can practise
- Sequencing the steps of a visit: getting there, in the chair, back home.
- Expressing a need: using a stop signal and seeing it respected.
- Vocabulary: dentist, chair, open, mirror, stop, ready.
- Cause and effect: the sound was loud, so Kai raised his hand.
- Retelling with a clear beginning, middle and end.
A 10-minute session
- Start with four pictures: the calendar, pressing the chair button, raising a hand and the big mirror.
- Line them up and talk about what happens first, next and at the end.
- Practise the stop signal together. Agree a raised hand, a card, a sign or a word, and show that the adult stops when it's used.
- Add the "in the chair" pictures one at a time, if your child wants to see more of the visit.
- Talk about what helped: pressing the button, practising the signal, the sunglasses. Which might help your child?
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: use only the calendar, the chair and going home.
- Harder: retell all ten scenes, then act out the visit with a toy, practising stopping and starting again.
- Extend: look at photos of your own dental clinic and match them to the pictures.
Try it at home
Before a real visit, look at the clinic's photos together and agree a stop signal with the dental team in advance. A child should never be pressured to put up with pain or discomfort.
Pairs well with
- A Quieter Spot: a six-scene story about showing that a sound is too much.
- When I Can't See My Grown-up: another step-by-step story about a real-world outing.
- How to use story sequencing cards.