Visual supports are valuable learning tools that can help increase the understanding of language, encourage positive behavior, and provide structure and support. Check out my favorite ways to use visual supports as a teacher, SLP and at home as a parent!
UPDATED - October 6, 2019 Miami-Dade County Public Schools' website, Prekindergarten . . . the Right Beginning, has visual supports for everything! Find numerous literacy activities, behavioral charts, and so much more. This is one of my most popular posts and this morning I noticed the links no longer working. I little checking and I found their new site. Many printables -no Boardmaker software needed. There are communication boards and /or overlays to use with a large variety of toys found in early childhood classrooms, as well as many learning activities. The list below is a small representation of the items that you will find on this wonderful site. First / Then charts in a variety of styles and sizes. Social Stories Behavioral symbols and charts Phonological Awareness Interactive Storybooks Choice Boards Songs and stories Boards to use at home Nursery rhymes and popular children's stories Recipes Schedules and routines Diana © 2012 The Picture Communication Symbols ©1981–2011 by Mayer-Johnson LLC. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Used with permission. Boardmaker® is a trademark of Mayer-Johnson LLC.
We all see and hear it everywhere: WH Questions, WH Questions, WH questions. It’s all over our students’ goals. It’s constantly being worked on every time we present new information or read a new book. It’s a HUGE search criteria on our favorite websites (Pinterest, anyone?!) Sooooo, you might think it sounds insane to
Looking for a cheap, easy to use therapy material? How about paper bags? I love using paper bags for a variety of activities. Here are some simple ways I have incorporated paper bags into my therapy sessions. 1. Puppets My students love to use puppets to "eat" their articulation cards or other target cards. They also love to use them to tell stories. Making puppets from paper bags is a great, inexpensive way to engage your students in a variety of activities! You can easily make a puppet to match any book or story that you are using. Be creative- your kids will love it! I made these monster puppets with my son this week. They were so easy to make! We used a little paint, glue, and card stock with our paper bags. I found the idea for these cute monsters from this pin: Paper Bag Monster Puppets 2. Describe It To Me This activity is also super easy. I throw a bunch of items into a bag. My students reach in and grab something (no peeking!) to describe. The students remove the object and then describe it using a variety of descriptors. This is a great way to incorporate your Expanding Expression Tool (EET) with describing real objects. Sometimes I will even get really small, cheap objects that the students can keep if they give me a description using all of the beads on the EET. 3. What is in the bag? This is a great activity to work on a student's deductive reasoning skills. I put an object into the bag (students do not see- again, no peeking). Students need to ask questions about my object. This is similar to the game Headbanz. 4. Categories Place pictures of categories on the bag and collect items or pictures to place in each category. I used pictures from my Category Sorting activity. I like to put a piece of Velcro on each bag so that I can interchange the categories without having to get a new bag each time. 5. Collect in a bag Put any kind of card into the bag. My students love to decorate a bag and then collect their cards. 6. Paper bag books You can use two paper bags to make a book that will have two pockets. Simply fold two bags in half and then put the two openings touching each other to make two pockets for a book. Staple together, and done! You have a paper bag book that you can use to target a variety of goals. I used this one to put some of my new sequencing cards in for a student to take home. I have also made these Articulation Paper Bag Books. These are so fun to make with students and send home! Here is a link to a freebie that contains blank frames to use on your paper bags, as well as labels for What is in the bag? and Describe It To Me. Have fun using your paper bags!
How many times have you had this problem? You have worked hard on requesting with a student who is using an AAC device or picture communication book, and they are requesting up a storm! Not a problem really, right? Well, what if they could do even more with their communication? How about the next step which would be commenting! How great is it to give a child a way to comment on their world, and not just request in it? A friend of mine posted this video in an AAC group, and I thought it was great. This You Tube channel called TheDadLab has so many great ideas for exploring with young children! My initial thought was, "I see blue water all over the floor!" These little cuties are having a great time exploring a small area, and I can really see how this would be great, but I also saw a huge mess of blue water on my carpet thanks to some of my more enthusiastic friends. I decided to try something similar, but using beans. I know that this could still cause a mess, but vacuuming up a few beans is much easier than cleaning up a big blue stain on the carpet in my office! I took a clear glass baking dish and poured enough beans inside to cover the entire bottom. I then took a piece of paper with pictures printed on it and placed it under the glass dish. I then took a clear plastic cup that I cut down in size and cleared a space in the beans for the cup. My students were able to move the cup around and see what was hiding underneath the beans! Using books is a great way to work on "I see..." Board books work well when focusing on commenting. They are durable and will withstand use from my most enthusiastic friends. I like to pull out an activity page with icons that represent pictures in the book. I found this picture viewer when I moved into my speech room years ago. It is great for going through a bunch of pictures, and engages my students more than just flipping through the pictures with our hands. They love pulling down the tray to change the pictures! One more way I like to work on "I see" is with an iPad app called Peekaboo Barn. This app is really cute and engaging! I made visual icons to represent everything that pops up in the app. The students tap on the barn door to reveal who is behind the doors (look for a later post on how to use this for "I hear"). I should also say that even though the "I see" icon looks like it is always present on my sentence strip, I actually move it back to the same spot in their books every time they make an exchange. I keep it on the same page as their "I want" icons, so they do have to learn some discrimination for these tasks. I hope you can use some of these tips and work on commenting with your students!
I love using my No Frills Articulation products. I keep them all in a binder and am able to flip through to the pages I need quickly. They are so great to pull out when I need some quick sentences to use when playing a board game that students have chosen, or when I have a quick articulation student that I only see for 5 minutes. I have also sent some pages home with students as homework. I am so excited about my newest addition to the No Frills family: No Frills Articulation: R This packet targets prevocalic /r/, as well as six different vocalic /r/'s (-ar, -air, -er, -ear, -ire, -or). In this packet, you get: Memory Cards (84 cards– 12 for each form of /r/): Print two copies of the cards. Laminate and cut out to play a memory game. Phrase Worksheets (4 worksheets): Students can read or repeat the phrases. There is a spot to record the number of correct responses at the bottom of the page. Sentences Worksheets (7 worksheets): Students can read or repeat the sentences. There is a spot to record the number of correct responses at the bottom of the page. Story Worksheets (4 worksheets): Students can read the stories out loud. There is a spot to record the number of correct responses after each story. You can get this packet at my TpT store HERE. If you are interested in more of these kinds of packets, I also have a bundle of activities available. There are five different No Frills Articulation packets available that are bundled together for 20% savings. It's like having a sale everyday! You can get the No Frills Articulation Bundle HERE. You can also read more about the packets included in an earlier post of mine HERE. You can win a packet of No Frills Articulation: R in the rafflecopter giveaway below: a Rafflecopter giveaway Jen
The main aim in my classroom is to create a positive friendly environment to begin teaching, sometimes I find myself going around in circles… but I love it! Running a successful Special Ed cl…
UPDATED - October 6, 2019 Miami-Dade County Public Schools' website, Prekindergarten . . . the Right Beginning, has visual supports for everything! Find numerous literacy activities, behavioral charts, and so much more. This is one of my most popular posts and this morning I noticed the links no longer working. I little checking and I found their new site. Many printables -no Boardmaker software needed. There are communication boards and /or overlays to use with a large variety of toys found in early childhood classrooms, as well as many learning activities. The list below is a small representation of the items that you will find on this wonderful site. First / Then charts in a variety of styles and sizes. Social Stories Behavioral symbols and charts Phonological Awareness Interactive Storybooks Choice Boards Songs and stories Boards to use at home Nursery rhymes and popular children's stories Recipes Schedules and routines Diana © 2012 The Picture Communication Symbols ©1981–2011 by Mayer-Johnson LLC. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Used with permission. Boardmaker® is a trademark of Mayer-Johnson LLC.
As adaptive skills increase, challenging behaviors typically decrease. Made For Me Literacy visual supports help to develop student understanding, flexibility and independence. Dana Howell of Behavior Intervention and Solutions helps teachers understand the different formats and types of visual supports they can implement in their classroom. #visualsupports #specialeducationclassroom #teachertips
Poster, and Individual sequence prompts. Large Classroom posters, 6" wide by 30" long Individual size sequences strips Visual Supports for Locker Skills and Locker Routines Features: Build independence with school routines Prevent dependency on verbal cues Build consistency between staff Replace verbal cues with visual cues Take IEP data on level of independence Personalize by letting children color their own winter locker routine. Use materials as a cut and past sequencing task. Differentiated ideas included. Winter and Fall routines. Entry and exit routines. Send home to help build family participation and consistency of expectations. Activities: Practice skills with use of picture cues Coloring Matching Cut & Paste Sequencing Regular Education: PreK-K Special Education & RtI: PreK-5th Occupational Therapy & Speech/Language Therapy: PreK-8th Additonal Visual Supports and Classroom Management Tools from Print Path: ➜ Self-Regulation Skills TAUGHT ➜ Visual Supports: Self Regulation and Classroom Participation~Special Ed BUNDLE ➜ Yoga Movement Breaks
For many children with Autism and related disorders, play is HARD. It feels like work. This is where using visuals to support play comes in handy.
Visual schedules are a great way to help students manage their school day and see what is coming next. Free flip schedule template only at Mrs. D's Corner.
Check out these core and fringe flip boards for an easy, portable, low-tech resource for your early communicators or AAC students.
Use this break card to help your student pick the breaks for their day. Includes 2 blank visuals to make it building specific. Just print, laminate, cut, and velcro- and you're ready to go! Pages: 2 Created by Educators for Educators- 2022. ****This is a digital download/printable product. No physical product will be mailed to you. You can access your digital downloads instantly through your Etsy account, under “Purchases and reviews.” Download the files onto your desktop or laptop computer, save, and print! (Please note: digital downloads/files are not compatible with mobile or tablet devices. You must be on a desktop or laptop computer in order to access the digital downloads.)****
Do you feel like children seem to have more difficulties with self-regulation? Here are a few suggestions to help with emotional dysregulation in children.
Home and school communication is so important! These sheets allow students to participate in sharing their day with their parents using visual supports, checklists, and/or sentences. Multiple levels are included for a variety of students. Print and go OR customize for your students! New 2018 version: ALL text is editable (in PowerPoint). Also includes updated b&w images. Original version (still included in the download): Only the checklists are editable (in PowerPoint) so that you can customize in order to easily check off the things you do each day. Customize for your class or for each student. (Symbols are not editable in either version, but ALL text is editable and blank pages (without symbols) are also provided in the newest update so if you need to you can add your own symbols.
Education and Training are integral parts in promoting safety within any skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facility (LTC) and it is our job as medical SLPs to provide education on safety to our patients, nurses (RN’s, LVN’s, CNA’s), other facility supporting staff, and to family members. One way for us to educate and train in the SNF and LTC facilities is to take time to do group intake trainings, and 1:1 face/face education and training sessions after an ST assessment with recommendations is completed. As part of this much needed training, visual signs have been my go to resource for the past 10 years as a medical SLP. I have utilized visual signs as an adjunct to the given training I have provided following each ST assessment with recommendations. So I have uploaded to my TPT store my safety visual signs I have successfully utilized for years. They are my own ideas based on the need of various patients I have treated over the years. They are also my most functional and most effective safety visual signs as per my patients/staff/family feedback and response to each visual. In this packet you will find the following functional visual signs: Call light....................................................................................Pages 4-5 Do not get out of bed.........................................................Pages 6-7 Wheelchair near you............................................................Pages 8-9 Walker near you.....................................................................Pages 10-11 Use your walker......................................................................Pages 12-13 Lock your wheelchair...........................................................Pages 14-15 Use safety bed rails.............................................................Pages 16-17 Use bathroom safety bars................................................Pages 18-19 Do not enter............................................................................Pages 20-21 Keep bed slightly upright/prevent aspiration...........Pages 22-23 NPO (nothing by mouth)....................................................Page 24 Restricted Diet: Purée Food.............................................Page 25 Restricted Diet: Mechanical Chopped Food..............Page 26 Restricted Diet: Mechanical Soft Food........................Page 27 Restricted Liquids: Only_____Thicken Liquid.............Page 28
Free special education visual support! Reduce problem behaviors, increase communication, and decrease prompt dependence with this simple, portable visual.
Here is an easy way to implement articulation carryover in speech therapy. Have visual supports for any articulation carryover activity.
Is writing meaningful for your students? Does everyone have a choice and a voice? Read more on how to make writing with nonverbal students meaningful!
You can use file folder ideas to make speech therapy activities for your students. Turn worksheets and visuals into interactive materials!
To use this free visual spatial and working memory task print out pages 2-4. Cut apart the cards. To practice visual spatial skills, place one card with dots and one blank board in front of the child. The child can use a dot marker, bingo chips or coins to copy the location of the dots on the blank board. To add in visual memory, the child can study the card with the dots for a certain amount of time. Turn the card over. The child has to remember where to place the dots on the blank board. There are also blank templates included to create your own patterns to vary the degree of difficulty. DOWNLOAD the Visual Spatial and Working Memory Task Here are some additional activities that encourage visual spatial and working memory skills. Working Memory Exercises includes the materials to create 20 memory challenges (the 10 Level 1 exercises are in categories and the 10 Level 2 exercises are not categorized) recording sheets for each category in double lined (Handwriting without Tears® style), dotted lined (Zaner-Bloser® style) or regular lined paper and answer sheets. In addition, both levels come with additional visual cues if the exercises are too difficult. This download is great for classroom use, therapy sessions or to send home with a student. These activities are reproducible to print to use over and over again with all the children that you teach. FIND OUT MORE. Mosaic Patterns Practice copying different patterns using various sizes and techniques to encourage different fine motor and visual perceptual skills. Also included is 7 different activity ideas to encourage different fine motor skills. FIND OUT MORE. Which Way? includes 16 directional arrow pages (large and small size) plus 6 boards to follow. The activities are available in varying degrees of difficulty. Children will practice moving right, left, diagonally, forwards, backwards, clockwise, down and up. Practice motor planning skills, visually scanning from right to left, understanding prepositional phrases and spatial awareness with this movement activity. FIND OUT MORE. The post Visual Spatial and Working Memory Task appeared first on Your Therapy Source.
This is a PowerPoint I made to work on receptively identifying items from a choice of three when given an object function (which one do you eat, which one do you wear, which one is used for cutting, etc). When you view it as a slide show and click on the correct link, you hear applause and it moves to the next slide (I think... it's been awhile since I made this). You can also print each page and have the child tell you the correct answer. Or print them 4 slides per page and cut out and use as flash cards. Click here to download!
Do you use visuals in your classroom? Visuals support students understand what you are trying to teach them. They encourage students to associate pieces of information with visuals. Visual learning helps you to store information for a longer period of time. It is said that videos and images are directly processed by long term memory. The visual ... Read More about Classroom Visuals
I was recently asked to offer some advice about correcting for those tricky sound errors — lisps and lateralized productions of the sibilants /s/, /z/, /sh/ and /ch/. If you are an SLP, you …
Browse this collection of visual supports and other resources to help your students with ASD be successful socially and academically in school. You'll find templates for social rules, classroom rules, emotional support, schedules, and more.
These worksheets use real-life pictures! These printables are targeting categorization and negation - the concept of NOT, helping massively with understanding negation concepts. Have your student identify which picture does NOT belong in the given category by choosing the correct picture from a fiel...
This is an easy to use visual preschool schedule with both boy and girl options. I exchange the pieces based on what material we're working on for the day.
Help your students achieve generalization in speech therapy with these self monitoring speech therapy activities.
A few weeks ago I posted this little picture on my Instagram. You might have seen it. A student of mine desperately needed a visual schedule on her desk and I (being a lover of all things providing closure such as check marks), created this tabbed schedule so she could easily close the tasks as they […]
You can support your nonspeaking student/child with Augmentative-Alternative Communication. Give them this robust picture communication system and teach them to be competent communicators. There are 4 different core word boards provided in this resource. Basic core 15 core words Next level 24 core words Universal core 36 words 40 core words from the DLMTM project These 4 boards are not necessarily cummulative; they do not necessarily build on one another. The symbols are not all in the same relative locations as the board sizes increase. They are not meant to be used that way; rather each is its own right now communication system. Choose the one each student needs to use now and for a period to come. Choose a size the student can “grow into” a bit; you can cover up some symbols and reveal them as his vocabulary grows. You can also add flip pages as needed. 52 strips with 5 symbols per strip at the larger symbol size (approx. 2”). Plus 5 blank strips for you to add personalized vocabulary 55 strips with 6 symbols per strip at the medium symbol size (approx. 1 3/4”). with 6 strips for specific activities with activity-based vocabulary plus 2 blank strips for personalizing) 50 strips with 8 symbols per strip at the smaller symbol size (approx. 1”). Plus 2 blank strips for you to add personalized vocabulary. Symbols on flip strips are in 3 sizes, with 5, 6, or 8 symbols per strip. This accommodates student visual and motor access. Some flip strips have additional core words. Others offer fringe vocabulary for specific topics. There are some blank strips so that you can add symbols on the fly as needed. Some strips also have an additional blank space or two at the end for adding additional words. Some strips have “something different” (using the different symbol) as the last choice, so students can indicate what they want is not on that strip/not available to them. On any of the people strips, glue or velcro photos of real people and edit family members as appropriate. Flip strips are perfect for students who need to use Partner Assisted Scanning. Core vocabulary research is growing in its application in aac intervention almost daily. What we do know, to begin with, is that there is a small core number of words that make up the biggest percentage of the words we use daily. For toddlers, there are only 25 words that make up more than 95% of what they say. These words are largely social regulatory; including some pronouns, verbs, some “little words.” There are very few nouns in core vocabulary, and none in the initial 25 that children use the most. Give your child the vocabulary they need to meet their wants and needs, be social, and participate in life. Please Note: This is a digital file. You will receive a PDF by using the link Etsy provides. After Etsy verifies your payment, they will provide a link to download the file. You will need to download it on your computer. Then, simply print, laminate, and assemble. Assembly is easy with a 3-hole punch and binder rings. You will also need scissors or a paper trimmer.
