Visuals

Visual reminders can help your child stay on track and complete tasks independently. We have used them for almost everything from getting dressed to play schedules. The great news is you can often purchase these visuals inexpensively as downloads and print them out yourself.  If that isn’t an option, sometimes your child’s school or therapist will help you by creating one for you.

These can be quite involved, or they could be very simple.  The links below share some of our more complex visuals, like Michael’s complete shower routine.  We have some simple ones in his bedroom to serve as reminders while he is in his room alone at night. These are written because Mikey can read, but they could also be photos or icons if that works better for your child.

We have even used them in Mikey’s bedroom, reminding him that it is supposed to be a quiet space.  We even have a reminder on his alarm clock saying, “Calm body, quiet mouth.”

Sleep eluded us for quite some time, but now that Mikey is a teenager, he’s embracing sleep on a typical schedule, and I cannot tell you what a gift that has been.

Now, Mikey has a morning routine visual as well. It reminds him to get dressed and to make his bed.  We’re working on bed making as an independent skill, but we’re not quite there yet. I’ll keep you posted when he gets that one down in one of our Flash Forward Fridays.

There are so many examples of great visual aids that can help people with special needs. I will surely write more about this in future entries. There are some links below to posts on this topic I have written in the past.

For visual aids we used for various personal hygiene, click the links below.