Art teachers for schools are increasingly tasked with
providing support to a variety of students but don’t always have the resources
to provide supports for individuals with special needs. Visual supports
are a commonly used strategy for students on the spectrum. They are an evidence-based practice for students with
autism and are used in a variety of ways. In art, some students do well
with just a written schedule on the board, but children who are nonreaders will
benefit from the use of pictures. Many of these students have pictures in
their classrooms, but it is difficult for an art teacher, who has a whole
school to plan for, to develop visuals that support activities in their
classrooms with these students. To help with that I created 2 resources that
may be helpful.
from mini-schedules outlining how to complete an art activity.
To minimize time spent making the visuals, the pictures are designed to be
printed out in 8 ½ by 11-inch paper and slipped into page protectors in a
notebook. This will allow you to rearrange them for different projects,
present them to the whole class or an individual student, and store extra
pictures in a separate notebook. These are being offered for $3.50 on the TPT
site.
point board or cut apart to use in an exchange system to communicate their
wants and needs during an art project. Students can use the visuals to request
things they need and things they want to complete their art activities.
This resource is free and can be downloaded, cut apart and laminated.
included for art, please share in the comments. More ideas about how
to use visual supports can be found at the Autism Internet Modules. This site requires a
free login but offers lots of tutorials on strategies effective for working
with students with autism and other disabilities.
