Accessing Visual Supports for Intervention

Question

Answer

There are a lot of different ways that people can do that. I really like to think of myself as a catalyst for getting that to happen. In other words I want to work with the teachers or parents or other people that will be interacting with the students who will need the visual supports. I want to teach them how to identify what the student's communication needs are and then how to make visual tools to support those situations and needs. Then it can be their responsibility. Sometimes I can get an aide to make something for the teacher and sometimes I can help a teacher make something for a parent. Working together as a team is important. But what I want to do is teach each individual how to identify how they can become better communication partners by using visual supports.

I actually have a lot of information about using visual strategies on my website www.usevisualstrategies.com. I have a monthly newsletter that comes out and if you do not receive that newsletter, go to the website and sign up for it. I spend a lot of time talking in the newsletters about all the issues related to successfully implementing visual supports. You can access the newsletter archives as well. There is also an autism website called www.autismfamily.com that has a lot of articles, pictures and resources about using visual supports. A lot of the articles on those two sites are really good to share with people to help them understand how important visual strategies are. "Buying in" is the most important. They need to understand how the use of visual supports will make their life with those students easier and how visual tools will help them become more effective communication partners with those students.

Part of my role as the SLP is to make sure we have resources available so everyone can easily create the visual supports they need. If it is too much of a burden, people won't do it. Start by looking at what resources you may have within your school. Do you have a computer? A camera? Picture resources such as Boardmaker or CDs with photos for communication? Money does not need to be an issue. I like to show people that they can access lots of pictures for free from the internet. In the beginning, I help them as much as necessary so they will be successful. Once they gain success, they will need me less.


This Ask the Expert was taken from the course entitled: 10 Things SLPs Need to Teach Teachers and Parents of Students with Autism presented by Linda Hodgdon.

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Linda Hodgdon, M.Ed., CCC-SLP is a Speech-Language Pathologist who is internationally known as a pioneer in developing the use of visual strategies to support communication for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders. She is the author of Visual Strategies for Improving Communication and Solving Behaviors in Autism. Linda is publisher and host of www.AutismFamilyOnline.com a new internet resource for families and educators and the Director of Cornerstone Communication Center, an organization that provides consultation, training, and professional development with the goal of improving communication.