Imagine that you couldn't read what I was writing right now. What if I read it to you and you couldn't understand what I was saying? How would you communicate to me that you didn't understand? How would you communicate if you did and just needed a little bit more time? How about if it just took you a little longer to understand what I was saying? These are some of the common challenges your child could be facing. They may be able to understand, but can't speak yet or they might not be able to tell you that the information is too confusing, ask you to say it another way, or ask just simplify it. These are some of the exact reasons visuals of all kinds can be useful for your child.
There are so many ways to learn and process information in the world, so let's take a look first at different learning styles, then how they apply to your autistic child. The 4 learning styles that are typically talked about are:
Visual - Spatial: This learner learns holistically rather than in a step-by-step way, and processes primarily in pictures rather than words. Think of this child's learning as a web where the thoughts are interconnected to each other. This learner will benefit from graphics, visuals, charts, maps, mind-maps, or flash cards.
Aural - Auditory-musical: This learner learns well through hearing directions and speaking answers. They will benefit from listening, speaking, verbal repetition, sound recordings or mnemonic devices. Preference for this child may be in listening to information.
Verbal - Linguistic: This learner likes to be taught by being spoken to or using written materials. This child's preference is on language reasoning rather than the abstract. This learner likes reading, writing, making notes or viewing information in word form.
Physical - Kinesthetic: Here our learner requires to touch and move material to learn. This learner has a preference for movement, tactile representations, models and materials, physical interactions, hands-on approaches, and experience with practice.
Now, we CAN combine learning types, such as Physical and Auditory to engage multisensory learning, example: using singing and movement when engaging in a familiar song. The child could sing the song or make the actions, but doing both engages both learning styles.
Obviously, humans can learn through all of the learning styles above, but we will probably lean towards one or the other based off of what we are good at. In terms of autistic children, often they may struggle to process either aural or verbal information, making social communication difficult! In this case, you should try to use visuals to bridge the gap in learning styles and as a support for verbal language. As stated above, combining visual and verbal learning styles can assist to engage both.
Now that we know the why to use visuals, let's talk some additional benefits for your child when you use visuals:
There's always something to look back to as a reminder
It can allow for more processing time
The visual stays even when the words have finished
The visual can help your child be autonomous by referring to it rather than to you
It gives concrete information, which can in-turn reduce anxiety
The visual shows what your child needs to do or the information they need to pay attention to
Here are some different styles of visuals to try. Try each one to see what your child prefers:
Use an actual object. Here, you would use an object to show the child what they need to do next. For example, if I were to communicate a nappy change to a child, I would bring them the new nappy and say "nappy change."
Use a picture of an object or of the action you'd like the child to perform. Some children engage better when they are doing the action or the object is their own in the photo and other children can learn from other people/objects in the photo.
Use a drawing, cartoon/clipart/Boardmaker. These can be a bit more abstract for a child, so try some of the earlier visuals first before switching to these.
Written words. This works well when your child starts to read or can associate words with their meaning. You may want to consider using words with pictures above to help your child understand their meaning before they are able to read.
Try out some visuals for small things in your child's life, see how they react and what works for them. Drop us a comment below to let us know how it went!
Reminder, tomorrow is our free webinar on Developmental Delays hosted by Sam Gourley, Founder and Director, and Erin Byrnes, Lead Practitioner! You can join our webinar by registering here: https://meet.zoho.com.au/vWn2A6ei8C Hope to see you there!
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