Visual Supports for Special Needs Children

The following websites we are featuring today will help us learn more about visual supports and/or visual strategies for special needs children especially children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

First on our list is the module from Autism Internet Modules (AIM) titled Evidence-based Classroom Intervention: Visual Support.

Research has shown that individuals with ASD demonstrate strength in visual learning. Visual supports organize a sequence of events, enhancing the student's ability to understand, anticipate, and participate in those events.

Click here to sign-up.

The University of Florida/Gainesville Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (CARD) provides information and tips on making visual supports. They also have a video titled Making and Using Visual Supports. It may take awhile to download but it is a must-see. A parent answers the question “Did you think that using pictures would keep your son from speaking?"

Don Marino Childnett.tv’s mission is to reach out globally to families, clinicians, and educators through the internet to provide information related to autism and other neurological disorders. Viewers can watch personal stories, therapies, and the latest medical research 24 hours a day from home, work, or wherever high-speed internet access is available - all for free. Three Childnett.tv videos related to our topic are the following:

Make and Take: Choice Boards and Labeling
Erica Grub, M.S., CCC give a hands-on workshop showing participants learning about and creating choice boards and labeling systems. (35 min)

Make and Take: Communication Boards
Robin Parker, SLP.D., CCC gives a hands-on workshop showing participants learning about and creating communication boards and other communication systems. (42 min)

Make and Take: Schedules
Marlene Sotelo-Bumberg, M.S. MT-BC, BCABA gives a hands-on workshop showing participants learning about and creating individual daily schedules, activity schedules, and group schedules. (47 min)

Autism E-Learning, supported with funding from the Government of Ontario, also has a number of visual demonstration videos and visual images.

Lastly, you may visit the following websites for free picture cards.

• Autistas.org
• Do2learn
• Enchanted Learning
• PECS Downloads
• Patrick Ecker
  
• The Internet Picture Dictionary
• Speaking of Speech
• Visual Aids for Learning
• Use Visual Strategies

Many thanks to Ruth Catingan, OTRP for contributing sites for this article.

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