Visual Schedules

Do you use visual schedules in your classroom?
I must admit, when I first began teaching I found teaching visual schedules to my students a very daunting task. Then, my mentor demonstrated teaching one of my students how to use his picture schedule by making it into a game. Ever since then, I've been hooked! I have found that some students, especially those who demonstrate behaviors associated with autism spectrum disorders, truly benefit from having access to a personal visual schedule. Knowing what comes next seems to reduce anxiety in students, and helps communicate your expectations using visuals as opposed to strictly verbal prompts. Depending on the individual needs of particular students, I create picture, photo or object schedules for them to use. Some students do well with more detail and task analysis than others, so instead of simply having a SNACK symbol on their schedule, they might have a sink (for washing hands), lunchbox, and clean-up symbols. I have also seen task analysis pictures positioned perpendicularly to the vertical schedule.

Visit my Pinterest board for more ideas.

Right now the majority of the visual schedules used in my room are attached to a classroom divider board:

Left to right: object schedule, two picture (Boardmaker symbol) schedules, and photo schedule.

This year I had one student who became fixated on his visual schedule and insisted on moving the pictures around while constantly reciting all of activities in sequence. It became a real issue, so instead of a schedule which he could manipulate, I created one which ONLY teacher could carry and touch. However, in this case it was much more than a schedule, it also became a data and reinforcement system. It was meant to address this student's behavior needs, so each of the picture also has expectations listed next to it. If student does 3 out of 4 things which are expected during each activity, he gets a penny on his penny board. When he earns 5 pennies, he gets whatever he is working for which can be a preferred activity, small snack, or sticker. I have found that this system has worked like magic for this particular child! His behavior improved dramatically and while initially I needed to constantly remind him of the expectations and review them after each activity, after about a month and a half, he began to do what was expected on his own.