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Why Do Visual Strategies Help?
It is critically important to understand the learning style of students so the most
effective teaching can occur. Recognizing that students have different learning
styles leads to the discovery that most students with autism spectrum disorders
and many others with communication or behavior challenges are visual learners.
That means they understand what they see better than what they hear. Yet we
tend to communicate with them primarily with talking.
It is typical for teachers and parents to presume that students understand
everything that is said to them. Frequently they do not. In fact, many of the
behavior and social skill problems that these students demonstrate can be linked to
a lack of understanding.
As we observe students, we discover that many of them demonstrate a strength in
understanding visual information compared to their ability to respond to what they
hear. Using visual strategies to support communication provides an effective way to
improve both understanding and expressive communication.
For many students with communication challenges, the use of visually supported
communication is more effective and efficient than just talking to them. Visual tools
assist students in processing language, organizing their thinking, remembering
information and many other skills necessary to participate effectively.
Consider this example:
Auditory information is fleeting. It is there and then it is gone. It is transient. That
means it comes and then it disappears.
Social interaction requires lots of shifting . . . back and forth . . . from person to
person. Effective communication requires the ability to rapidly establish attention
and shift attention. We take in information and process it. Then we formulate
responses appropriate for the situation. These steps need to happen quickly
because social life moves and changes continually.
Our targeted students may experience difficulty accomplishing these skills at the
speed necessary to participate effectively in communication interactions. They can
have difficulty rapidly establishing or shifting attention. Auditory information may
disappear before students have a chance to pay attention enough to take in what is
being said. They may miss a lot of information. Students may be accurately
interpreting only fragments of communication messages.
Using visual strategies helps. The visual cues help students to establish
attention. Visual information stays there long enough for the student to see it, take
in the information and respond to it. It is non-transient. It doesn't fly away.
Students can go back over and over if they need, to understand and remember.
What are Visual Strategies?
They are things that we see. Body movements, environmental cues, pictures,
objects and written language can all be used to support communication. Our
environment is full of signs and logos and objects and other things that support
communication.
In addition, we can create our own specially designed visual tools to help meet
specific communication needs. Using visual schedules, choice boards, tools to give
information, tools to manage behavior and lots of other visual strategies can make
a significant difference in a student's ability to participate successfully in school and
home routines.
We call them visual strategies, visual
supports or visual tools. Sometimes we refer
to visually supported communication. What
these terms mean is that we are using
something visual to help individuals
understand communication better.
Visual strategies help individuals in many ways.
 We use visual strategies to help us communicate information TO individuals.
 Visual tools help students organize their thinking.
 Visual supports are used to give choices or communicate rules.
 One of the most important uses for visual strategies is to give information such as
what is happening, what is not happening, what is changing, etc.
You can create visual tools to give students the information they need to help them
participate successfully in all the routines and activities in their lives.
There are lots of options. Schedules and
calendars are the most common visual
tools used to give students information.
Step-by-step directions, choice boards,
and classroom rules provide structure in
classrooms. They help students by
creating an environment that is more
predictable and understandable.
Using visually supported communication is an extremely helpful approach for
students with communication and behavior challenges. Visual strategies help
students learn effective communication, appropriate social interaction, and positive
behavior. Many people use a few visual tools with students. Few people explore all
the possibilities.
Who Can Benefit from Visual Strategies?
Lots of people benefit from using visual strategies. Do you use a day planner or a
calendar or write notes to yourself to help you remember? Then you use visual
strategies.
All students can benefit from having visual supports to help them remember and
understand. But using visual supports can be particularly helpful for students with
special learning difficulties.
It is important to realize that visual strategies are used to help students
UNDERSTAND better. They help students understand what we are telling
them. They help students comprehend more about what is happening in their
lives. Visual strategies provide a way to help with memory and organizing
thinking. With the use of visual supports, many students are able to demonstrate
more appropriate behavior and social skills in their life situations.
Visual strategies are exceptionally helpful for students with communication or
behavior or learning challenges or other special needs, including those with:
 Autism
 Asperger's Syndrome
 PDD
 Fragile X syndrome
 Attention Deficit Disorders
 Nonverbal Learning Disabilities
 Learning Disability
 Bilingual
 Hearing Impairment
 Down Syndrome
 Emotional Impairment
 Communication Disorder
 Behavior Disorder
 Language Delay or Disorder
 Comprehension Problems
 Auditory Processing Disorder
 Aphasia
 Speech Disorder
 Mental Impairment
 Developmental Delay
 Multi-handicapped
 And many more...
Visual Strategies and Behavior in Autism Spectrum Disorders
Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and related communication
challenges experience significant difficulties in behavior and social skills. The
difficulties they have can often be related to communication in two ways. First,
these students cannot express themselves effectively. Second, they don’t
understand. They don’t understand what they are supposed to do or not do. They
may be confused about what is happening or not happening. The list goes on.
The use of visual strategies can
build a bridge toward effective
communication. Visual strategies
can provide the support necessary
for students to develop appropriate
skills for effective participation in
life activities.
Most of these students with ASD and related communication challenges are visual
learners! This observation has tremendous implications. Capitalizing on their
strengths, the use of visual strategies alters many social, communication, behavior
and educational challenges.
While it is common for educational programming to focus on the development of
communication skills for these students, that focus tends to be directed toward
developing their expressive communication skills. Comparatively little attention is
directed toward increasing the student’s ability to understand the communication
in his life.
For these individuals, their struggle with communication is far more complicated
than just the development of verbal language. Understanding the communication of
others, trying to figure out what is happening or not happening, handling changes
and transitions, and interpreting cues and signals in the environment can all be
areas of difficulty that result in frustration and behavior that is seen as disruptive.
At the same time, research demonstrates that most of these students display a
relative strength in visual skills compared to their auditory abilities. Visual
strategies capitalize on that strength. Using visual strategies to support
communication helps students organize their lives, significantly reduces behavior
problems and increases functional communication. This is accomplished in part by
developing a system of visual tools and aids to increase
comprehension. Schedules, aids to give directions, tools to give information, and
visual supports to establish and communicate rules are some of the tools designed
to increase the student’s understanding of what’s happening around him.
Visual tools and supports are
not magic. They won’t fix
every problem that students
have, but they will provide a
valuable framework to
support their lives.
Implementing a system of
visual tools and supports
significantly reduces various
behavior problems and
increases effective
communication interactions
for most students.
The principle of visually supported communication is simple; the impact on the
functioning of most students with these individuals, however, is profound. While
many people use a few visual tools in their homes and education environments, few
use this medium of communication support nearly as much as would be beneficial
for these students.
The book Solving Behavior Problems in Autism provides an assessment tool that leads the
reader to discover the causes of behavior problems and then to develop solutions to
those problems.
What is the Research?
There is an increasing amount of research that validates the use of visual strategies
to support communication. Research is also confirming the challenges these
individuals have processing auditory information.
Here is one recent example.
Scans Show Sound-Processing Deficits in Autistic Kids
 Unique brain wave patterns, spotted for the first time in autistic children, could help
explain why the children have so much trouble communicating.
 Communication issues may stem from delays detected in processing of sounds.
 They process sounds a fraction of a second slower than other children.
 That delay is only a fraction of a second, but when it's for every sound, the lag time
can cascade into a major obstacle in speaking and understanding people.
 Imagine if it took a tiny bit longer than normal to understand each syllable. By the
end of a whole sentence, one would be confused.
 "This delay in processing certain types and streams of sound may underpin the
subsequent language processing and communication impairment seen in autistic
children," researcher Timothy Roberts, vice chair of research in the department of
radiology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said in a news release issued by
the RSNA.
 It is uncertain whether the patterns found in the study exist in all autistic children
 University of Texas - Paper presented at Radiological Society of North America 2009
These studies demonstrate successful use of visuals strategies for
many purposes
THE USE OF VISUAL SUPPORTS TO FACILITATE TRANSITIONS OF STUDENTS WITH
AUTISM
Visual supports were used to aid transitions from one activity to another for two
elementary boys. Data revealed significant decrease in the latency between the
time the students were given instructions and the time they began the next activity
when the visual supports were used. Visual supports also resulted in a significant
decrease in teacher-delivered verbal prompts and physical prompts during
transition.
Dettmer, S., Simpson, R.L., Myles, B.S., & Ganz, J.B. (2000). Focus on Autism and Other Developmental
Disabilities, 15, 163-169.
USING AN ACTIVITY SCHEDULE TO SMOOTH SCHOOL TRANSITIONS
Functional assessment of a preschool child's aggressive and disruptive behaviors
identified antecedent conditions associated with difficulties during transitions from
one activity to another. A schedule board produced a dramatic decrease in
aggression and increase in cooperative behavior in the classroom.
Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Vol. 3, No. 1, 57-61 (2001)
TEACHING DAILY LIVING SKILLS TO CHILDREN WITH AUTISM IN UNSUPERVISED
SETTINGS THROUGH PICTORIAL SELF-MANAGEMENT
Study of 3 low-functioning children (ages 6-9) with autism found children could
successfully use pictures to manage their self-care behavior in the absence of a
treatment provider, generalize their behavior across settings and tasks, and
maintain behaviors at follow-up. When picture order was manipulated, subjects
followed the new picture sequence.
Pierce, K.L. & Schreibman, L. (1994). . Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 471-481
EFFECTS OF USING PHOTOGRAPHIC CUEING PACKAGE DURING ROUTINE SCHOOL
TRANSITIONS WITH A CHILD WHO HAS AUTISM
Photo cues were used for teaching a 6-year-old with autism to make successful
transitions in daily routines. Providing advance notice of an activity change using
combined verbal and photo cues helped reduce child's tantrums while increasing
number of appropriate transitions.
Schmit, J., Alper, S., Raschke, D., & Ryndak, D. (2000). . Mental Retardation, 38, 131-137.
USING AN INSTRUCTIONAL PACKAGE INCLUDING VIDEO TECHNOLOGY TO TEACH
SELF-HELP SKILLS TO ELEMENTARY
Video modeling and video prompting were used to successfully teach 3 self-help
skills (cleaning sunglasses, putting on a wrist watch, and zipping a jacket) to 3
elementary students with mental disabilities.
JM Norman, BC Collins, JW Schuster - Journal of Special Education Technology, 2001
There are many more studies that have demonstrated successful use of visual
strategies to improve communication, reduce or eliminate many behavior
challenges and teach appropriate social skills to help individuals with Autism
Spectrum Disorders and those with related learning difficulties to participate in life
opportunities with success.