One of the ways we can really enhance children’s understanding is through the use of visual resources. By visual resources I mean anything from pictures to photos to symbols to physical objects. Anything visual that when paired with a word, enhances meaning and understanding.

So an example of using a visual resource versus not using a visual resource would be… When asking the question “do you want an apple or pear?”. I could ask this question with no visual resource or I could ask this question by having an actual apple and pear in each hand, or by showing a picture of an apple and pear.

The addition of the visual resources can really help a child’s understanding of the question, as well as help the child to focus on the question and additionally help to develop communication and language because the adult is modelling the vocabulary in context. For example, saying ‘apple’ when showing an apple.

Using visual resources to enhance understanding and develop language and communication can make such a difference and will help to prevent challenging behaviour, because the child’s understanding is supported.

In this podcast episode, I share examples through my experience of teaching children with autism, where using visual resources has made such an impact for the child. These experiences taught me so much and I want to share this with you.

Success story 1: Weeing in the toilet – the importance of ensuring the visual resource we use is meaningful and specific.