Author: Aileen De Souza | Jan 13, 2017
Post Its, To Do Lists mobile phone reminders, desk calendars, hoardings- visuals play a large role in our lives. At Sethu we see a large number of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), I realized the efficacy of visuals with children with Autism during a session with 14 year old LJ.
LJ was diagnosed with ASD and had developed a lot of behavioural issues such as anger outbursts, difficulty with change and defiance. As it was the first time with me and a new place for LJ to be in, compliance wasn’t something I was expecting during our session. A simple visual schedule (VS) that consisted of the tasks that LJ was required to do came to the rescue. As each task was completed LJ would strike it off the list. In this manner he completed all the tasks that were put up with very little resistance.
Every time LJ got distracted I pointed to the task card and he would be back on track in a jiffy. I felt the VS helped in three ways: to transition from one task to the next, to allow predictability, to provide a visual cue that helped him stay focused. Visuals were a great way of compensating for LJ’s difficulties in communication and processing verbal instructions.
I own a magic wand to help children with autism and communication challenges – it is called ‘Visuals supports’. And the wonderful thing is, this magic is available to parents, teachers, therapists, just about anyone and everyone – please USE IT!