5. Using Visual Supports

Have you ever labeled your food in a communal fridge to make sure your delicious lunch wasn’t eaten by a coworker? Or have you left a sticky note on your front door to remind you to bring something specific to work? Or maybe you’ve taken a photo of your parking space at the airport or in a parking garage to remind yourself where you left your car? These are all examples of visual supports. These tools really help us remain on task, remember important things, and communicate our wants and needs. Visual supports are helpful for all of us and especially useful when supporting children with disabilities and children who are multilingual.

In this video, we’ll talk about how to use these in your program. We’ll see an example of how teachers in a before- and after-school care program use visual supports to help everyone understand the expectations and have a successful day. We’ll also see how teachers use visuals to provide individualized support for two students that need a little more help. Let’s dive in.

As we mentioned, many of us use visual information to make sense of the world around us. Visual supports are specific images, schedules, line drawings, photographs, to-do lists, infographics, and more that give us additional information. When supporting young children, visual supports enable us to provide information in a variety of ways.

Let’s consider how one before- and after-school care program located in a community center uses visual supports. Some children in the program have identified disabilities, such as ADHD, and are multilingual, like Isabella, Zach, and Khalid. The children spend time playing outside on the playground, doing arts and crafts projects, and working in small groups. While these activities are fun and engaging for all the children, the teachers spend a lot of time making sure everyone is safe, successfully participating, and following expectations. The transition from the school to the community center is especially stressful since the children have to cross a busy street.

To help things run more smoothly and make sure all the children have a clear understanding of the expectations across activities, teachers consider using visual supports. They wonder if creating a visual schedule with pictures of each activity will help children be more independent. They begin to brainstorm some ideas for visuals that would help with the primary activities like playground time, snack time, and art. Transitioning from school to the community center is a challenging routine, so they break this down into smaller steps with pictures for each part of the routine like lining up, staying with the group, walking on the sidewalk, and watching for the crossing guard.

The process of getting the children packed up with everything they need and ready to go to school or home has been a tricky process too, so they think about pictures of children’s coats, backpacks, schoolwork, lunch boxes, and water bottles. Teachers think that having photos of these things near the cubbies will help children remember all of their belongings. Next, they work to teach all the children what the visuals mean. It’s not always clear what the visuals mean, especially if we aren’t able to read the text. For example, take this image of waiting patiently for a turn and this image of asking to trade from the Head Start Center for Inclusion website. Without the accompanying text, these visuals could mean a number of different things. It’s important to explain and demonstrate in a developmentally appropriate way the meaning of each visual, show the children exactly what this means, and celebrate when they use the visual independently.

The teachers did this by showing children the visual supports and talking through each one during the group check-in time each morning and afternoon. Then, they checked to see if each child could tell them what it meant. Keep in mind that the best time to teach children about specific visuals is before the activity, event, or time they may need to use them. The third step involves giving children lots of opportunities throughout the day to use the visual support and embed this visual into the routine. The more chances a child has to practice using a visual support in a variety of activities, the faster they’ll be able to use it across settings. So, we want to ensure the children can practice using their visuals throughout the day in all activities.

The teachers did this by consistently reviewing the visual schedule and visual reminders of expectations for each activity. They had visuals of different outside play options on the playground and visual reminders of safety expectations as children transition to and from school. They posted the checklist of things children needed to take with them by the cubbies and visual reminders to clean up materials after snack and art. After a few weeks, teachers realized that things were running much more smoothly. Children were staying with the group, getting all their materials so much more independently, and even cleaning up without their teacher reminders. But there were two children who seemed like they needed a little bit more support: Khalid and Isabella.

So, the teachers took a more individualized approach. For Khalid, they made an individual picture schedule with photos of each routine. A teacher went through the schedule with him individually before each activity and reviewed each step. Then, Khalid got to hold this visual and take it with him, something he really loved. The plan for Isabella was a little different. While she consistently stayed with the group and got her materials, she struggled to communicate her wants and needs with teachers. She often wanted more time to play outside or more time to eat or snack and would become very frustrated if it was time to be finished.

Isabella had a hard time using her words in these situations, so teachers made her some visuals that said, “I need more time,” and “I’m not ready yet.” They showed Isabella how to use these symbols to communicate what she needed, and she immediately started using them independently. Teachers put these visuals on a key ring and attached this to a bracelet that Isabella could wear. This way, they were always close by and easy for her to access.

As we saw in this example and in the individual supports for Khalid and Isabella, visuals enable us to provide information in multiple ways and help children communicate their wants and needs. Of course, visuals are helpful for all children but especially useful for children with disabilities and children who are multilingual learners. Things like a visual schedule of activities, a visual checklist of things needed for a certain activity, or individual visuals to help specific children with a certain routine are simple and easy ways to promote participation and create inclusive environments where everyone gets the support they need.

How might you use visuals in your program?