Using visual supports with your kids on the spectrum .

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Children with autism are visual learners. Meaning most of them have difficulty in understanding language. Visuals are something we all use in our daily lives to navigate the world around us. Our kids have strength in learning visually. It helps them to understand language, do familiar routines, and complete daily living tasks. 

Use of visual schedules

There are different visual supports you can use with your child with autism. Visual schedules are one type of visual that can be used. A visual schedule helps the child to understand the order of activities they will be doing during the day so nothing comes as a surprise. 

Most of our kids also struggle with transitions in which case a visual schedule is very helpful. There are different types of visual schedules available online. The other thing you can do is you can take photos of your child doing different activities and put it on a schedule. 

We need to teach the child how to use the visual schedules the same way we teach them other skills. The goal here is for them to become independent in the future so they will be in a better position to navigate their day.


First and Then schedules

The first and then schedules are a simple type of visual schedule. Most kids with autism in the beginning stages do not like to engage in the non-preferred activity

. So the first and then schedules are used to show them first they do the non-preferred activity and they will get access to a preferred activity or toy something which they like. This also helps in developing compliance with our kids. We must follow through once they have completed the non-preferred activity


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Use of a Token Board.

Token Board is a great visual to use with kids with autism. We need to use reinforcement to teach our kids new skills. Reinforcement is something that increases future behaviors. This can be earning tokens while completing different tasks to gain access to something fun or things they like to do.

 It can be playing with an iPad, eating different kinds of foods, earning social praise, or maybe getting access to a favorite toy. Reinforcers can vary with our kids. Token Boards also help children in behavior management. It helps them in getting something preferred after they have displayed the proper behavior or completed tasks. 

We can start with a simple token board with the child in the beginning. We need to teach them that if they do something desirable they can get access to the cool things they like or want to do. 

In the beginning, we need to give them a token every few minutes during an activity so they can earn cool stuff. Once they are on board with it which might take some time then you can start increasing the duration of time for them to earn tokens   


Use of visuals to teach self-care skills to kids with autism.

Bathroom visuals will be great to help kids with learning self-help skills like washing their hands or using the bathroom. This will also help to reduce the amount of prompting the child requires as they will be able to look and visual and follow directions.

Visual supports will help the child to interact with their surroundings .Do you have any other visual supports to  share 
Comment and let me know so we all can benefit from it . 














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