Unit 31: Creating Visual Supports for Autism in School Readiness Program
In the case of children with autism, going to school is a major challenge since they struggle with language, interpersonal relations, and changes in daily schedules. They are likely to experience higher levels of stress and may not be able to perform well in a school setting. These challenges are well addressed by Visual Supports for Autism as they are clear and consistent and enable Children with ASD to understand what is expected of them in certain scenarios.
Therefore, through the utilization of Visual Aids for Autism, specifically, visual schedules and social stories, parents, educators, and therapists can Improve Communication, minimize anxiety, and foster independence which in the long run makes the transition to school easier and more successful for the children with autism.
What are Visual Supports for Autism?
Visual Supports for Autism are tools that are designed to use pictures to help children with autism understand expectations, schedules, and social behaviors. These supports can include items such as visual timetables, social stories, picture/graphic/word cards, and labeling to help the child understand abstract concepts. Incorporating visual supports into ABA Therapy can significantly enhance a child’s ability to comprehend and engage with their environment.
Visual Supports facilitate communication by providing children with the opportunity to comprehend and interpret verbal information and concepts presented in a more concrete and tangible manner. With the help of Autism Visual Aids, children can realize what is happening around them, prepare for changes, and perform the tasks set for them during the day with less assistance and more confidence.
Not only does it improve understanding but also decreases stress, increases structure, and facilitates transition, thus proving to be a significant tool in school preparation for children with autism.
Types of Visual Supports for Children with Autism
Visual supports are defined as useful tools that assist children with ASD in daily learning and other routines, as well as in enhancing their language, behavior, and learning abilities.
1. Visual Schedules
A visual schedule is a helpful aid that helps children with autism to have a picture of the tasks that they are supposed to do in a day. These tools are useful in the reduction of anxiety and the promotion of independence as they make tasks easy to accomplish by breaking them down into small steps.
👉 Example: A wall chart with pictures reflecting all the main activities that take place during the day, from eating breakfast to going to bed, is useful to teach children about schedules.
2. First-Then Boards
Similar to visual schedules, first-then boards display the sequence of activities with an emphasis on what should be done first and what comes next. This method may be useful where there is a need to impart new skills or a new set of activities.
👉 Example: A board with instructions “First Clean Up Toys” and “Then Play Outside” – a way to engage children and make them want to do the task because it is followed by something they enjoy.
3. Social Stories
These brief narratives assist children with autism to learn how other individuals behave and how they should respond in specific contexts. The use of social stories can be customized depending on the problem that a child is having.
👉 Example: An illustrated book for children that uses words and pictures to teach how to greet someone with the purpose of practicing social skills.
4. Choice Boards
Choice boards are designed to enable children to make choices through a menu of visuals such as pictures or photographs of preferred activities or items. This method enhances decision-making skills and Functional Communication.
👉 Example: A laminated board with pictures of snack options to enable the child to point at or select what they would like to eat thus enhancing decision-making.
5. Behavior Cue Cards
These are cards that can be used to teach the children about what is appropriate behavior in certain situations. They can assist in the reduction of anxiety and serve as a cue for proper conduct and interaction.
👉 Example: Small cards that may have pictures such as “Sit Down” or “Quiet Hands” that can be displayed to the child to teach him or her appropriate behaviors for various contexts.
6. Task Analysis Charts
These are charts that show how a certain task can be accomplished through several sub-tasks. They can be useful in skill acquisition and enabling children to develop independence where possible.
👉 Example: A visual guide for brushing teeth: Each phase of the process illustrated from selecting a toothbrush to rinsing the mouth, to help the child complete the activity.
7. Communication Boards
Communication boards are picture, symbol, or written word boards that assist children in expressing their wants or needs. They can be implemented in different environments and foster communication.
👉 Example: An individual board of pictures with such basic command words as “eat,” “drink,” “bathroom,” etc., to help non-verbal children communicate by pointing.
8. Emotion Thermometers
These are simple picture charts which assist children in expressing their feelings on a scale. They can help in teaching self-regulation and improve the student’s ability to understand their own emotions.
👉 Example: An effective tool in emotional recognition and expression is a color-coded thermometer with faces of different emotions including happy, angry and others.
9. Visual Timers
This involves the use of a sand timer, a digital countdown clock, or any other visual to enable the child to comprehend the elapsed time. It means that they can be used for managing transitions and for the development of time-related skills.
👉 Example: A sand or electronic timer, with a visible elapsed time, to help children grasp the concept of time and help them move from one activity to another.
10 Transition Cards
These cards make it easier for children to prepare for changes in routines and activities through a brief reminder.
👉 Example: Cards depicting the next activity to be done such as “End of Playtime” and “Starting Mathematics” to help children transition from one activity to another.
In addition to visual supports commonly used for children with autism, there are also specific types of visual supports that cater to the unique needs of younger individuals. These include:
☑️ Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS): Teaches children with autism to use pictures/symbols for expressing wants/needs and at the same time helps with Language Acquisition.
☑️ Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Devices: Communicatively enhances the use of tablets/computers in supporting language and speech development and assisting with social skills.
☑️ Video Modeling: Includes videos of the targeted behaviors/skills for children with autism to learn and mimic to enhance social interaction and motor coordination.
How to Make Visual Schedules for Autism?
Developing effective Visual Schedules for Autism greatly improves a child’s ability to comprehend and navigate the day. Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating visual schedules:
Identify Key Activities
Enumerate the tasks or processes that transpire from morning until the evening. This would involve the daily schedule of activities that they go through in the day such as waking up, eating, going to school, and even going to bed.
Arrange Sequentially
Align the visuals in the order of the activities that are to be performed. Make it possible to display these visuals on a board or in a binder or in an app that supports the creation of a sequence of visuals.
Label with Words
Place brief textual descriptions beside each picture to remind the subject about the link between the picture and the activity. This can be useful in reading exercises as well.
Review Regularly
Review the schedule with the child at the start of the day and before the child transitions from one activity to another.
Implementing Autism Visual Supports in School Preparation
Specifically, it was found that the use of visual supports can significantly improve School Readiness for Autistic Children. Labeled areas and picture cards are effective ways to assist in defining zones within the classroom which can reduce the confusion that students may have when trying to move around the classroom. Visual Supports for Students with Autism are a set of activities and transitions which help minimize anxiety and let students know what to expect next. Task boards and checklists are helpful as they divide the tasks into smaller and more manageable steps and increase the sense of independence.
In special education, there is a need for visual teaching aids, which play a crucial role in school preparation. Visual cue cards and social stories, for instance, are individualized to meet the IEP Goals of a child with ASD in the areas of communication, social skills, and behavior regulation. These supports promote correct ways of behaving and inform students about expected behaviors through clear and easy-to-understand messages and pictures.
Through the use of visual tools in the classrooms, the educators establish a learning environment that is well organized, Promotes Positive Behaviors, and enhances learning thus making school a success.
5 Benefits of Visual Supports for Children with Autism
Enhanced Communication
Autism visual supports assist in filling communication gaps since most autistic individuals find it difficult to grasp what words mean or to express themselves verbally. This is particularly useful for children who are either mute or have low speech development so as to enable them to be understood by others and also be able to express their needs effortlessly.
Reduced Anxiety
Visual schedules and cues help to create a structure which is very helpful in decreasing anxiety. With this in mind, children are less likely to get stressed due to changes in their daily activities and this is because they know what is expected of them.
Improved Task Management
It helps to divide a task into parts and try to visualize each part, it makes difficult activities more feasible. Checklists and task boards are among the visual supports that help children follow the sequence of steps when performing a task, which improves their chances of accomplishing the task without assistance.
Behavioral Guidance
Prompts can be used in order to teach and elicit appropriate use of visual symbols. For instance, visual cue cards that read “quiet hands” or “raise your hand to talk” can help children to refrain from interrupting or behaving poorly in class, and to learn how to wait for their turn and ask for permission to speak.
Increased Independence
These supports enable children to experience their day with more control, as the information is portrayed in a manner that is easy to follow. Prompts are used to help children start and finish tasks independently with a gradual increase in their independence.
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How to Create Effective Visual Supports at Home?
Start by identifying daily routines and tasks that could benefit from visual aids, such as morning routines, chore completion, or bedtime processes. Choose images or symbols that will not be hard for the child to comprehend and if the message can be conveyed in a picture and a few words, do not write a long text.
Visual schedules, task charts, and cue cards can be made using pictures from a newspaper, drawings, or applications on a tablet or smartphone. It is important to ensure that these visual supports are placed in noticeable areas in the house where the child will be able to locate them.
This is because the child will always be more engaged and committed to the support if he/she is involved in the creation process. Ensure that the visuals are updated frequently to accommodate new routines and tasks as they are introduced.
In this way, parents can increase their child’s independence, reduce their anxiety levels, and overall improve the child’s ability to function throughout the day.
Frequently Asked Questions & Answer
How are Visuals Helpful to Students with ASD?
Visual supports are needed to give meaning and structure, which can help in decreasing anxiety and increase comprehension. They assist students with autism by modeling how a task should be done, providing prompts for appropriate behavior, and supporting students’ communicative attempts using gestures.
What is a Visual Timetable for Autistic Students?
A visual timetable is a tool that uses pictures or other graphic representations of the daily schedule to help a child organize his/her day. In the case of autistic students, it aids in facilitating understanding of such routines and thus reduces disruptions by helping in the timely transition from one activity to another, finally, it aids in enhancing their independence by offering a schedule they can easily follow.
How Can Visual Schedules Improve School Readiness for Children with Autism?
Autism visual schedules refer to daily timetables depicted by pictures to make the child prepare for the next activity. This predictability helps children to become more independent and relieves anxiety therefore children are easily transitioned to school.
What Types of Visual Supports are Most Effective for Use at Home and In the Classroom?
Some of the most frequently used visual aids include visual timetables, first-then boards, social stories, behavior prompt cards, and communication displays. These tools cover all domains of life and learning needs and are applicable to both home and institutional environments.
Conclusion
Visual Supports have a great importance in preparing children with autism for school through facilitating communication, reducing stress, helping in completing tasks, modeling appropriate behavior, and promoting self-reliance. These benefits in aggregate make for a structured environment of learning that helps to achieve superior results and transition more seamlessly.
Visual schedules, in particular, play an essential role in Autism School Readiness Programs because they give children a clear and predictable structure for their day, which helps them get through it without getting too stressed out. It is important that parents and educators use visual supports in a consistent manner to ensure these benefits are achieved.
Please Note: The content of this blog is for informational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Consult a qualified healthcare professional for personalized guidance tailored to your specific situation.
Bhavika Bhasin (Author)
Bhavika Bhasin is the Research and Marketing officer at AutismCOE. She works with children and adults with ASD. Her clinical research includes evaluating various available autism screening and diagnosis methods and their efficacy. She is currently developing a novel screening exam that is indicated to be more accurate than the existing available exams. She is also writes articles papers for various publications.
