Visual Supports for

All Learners

Michele Triolo&

Shirley Tantawi

HELLO NEIGHBOR

Hello neighbor, what do you sayIt’s going to be a wonderful day

Clap your hands and boogie on downGive a little bump and turn around.

Hello neighbor, what do you sayIt’s going to be a wonderful day

Clap your hands and boogie on downGive a little bump and turn around.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND by Emily Perl Kingsley

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

What Is It?

If There Were No Words, How Did You Know?

Let’s Play Guess Who!

Walt DisneyDyslexia

Bill Cosby ADHD

Tom HanksAsperger’sSyndrome

Albert EinsteinAsperger’s Syndrome

& Dyslexia

Few will be going to self contained classrooms…..Few will be declassified…..

MAJORITY will be coming to your classrooms.

* In 2010 statistics showed that out of 199,205 students with an IEP in New Jersey, nn96,299 were included in general education classrooms 80% of the time.

* New Jersey Department of Education, 2010. http://www.nj.gov/education/specialed/data/2010.htm#placement

More than 130 students with an IEP currently enrolled in Paterson Public Schools Pre-K will be going to Kindergarten next year.

It’s not “is the child ready for us, it’s are we ready for the child?”

Dr. Donnie W. Evans, State District Superintendent’s Mission

* Aligned instructional system

Goal 1: Increase Student AchievementPriority I: Effective Academic Programs

Priority II: Safe, Caring and Orderly Schools

Before visual supports can be implemented, the classroom must ensure a safe and orderly school environment. Classroom rules, schedules, and expectations must be

clearly defined and consistently practiced.

Consistency and follow-through are key for success

Priority IV: Efficient and Responsive OperationsGoal 2: Customer Service Focus

* Improve responsiveness to current and emergent needs district-wide

• Typically Developing Learners• English Language Learners

• Students without previous school experience • Physical disabilities

• Visual / Hearing impairments• Intellectual /Cognitive disability • Emotional / Social disabilities• Developmental disabilities

Who Can Benefit From Visual Supports?

All learners can benefit from visual supports.

Why Use Visual Strategies?

VISUAL STRATEGIES…

* Visual reminders

* Supporting and increasing both receptive and expressive nnncommunication.

* Knowing exactly what is expected of them. (e.g., washing hands, nnncleaning up centers)

* Beneficial when used in conjunction with spoken language and/or nnngestures.

* Enhance Memory

Paint a Picture, a Visual Can Speak a Thousand Words…

• Clear sense of time and expectations within a routine

• Allow for predictability

• Represents steps within an activity

• Communicate clear expectations

Premack Principle

The Premack PrincipleThe Premack Principle states:

– More preferred activities will reinforce less preferred activities.

You’re parents used it on you. It sounds something like this:

“First you need to eat your vegetables (less preferred)

Then you can have dessert”. (more preferred)

First / Then Board

and

Language

• First/Then Boards give children clear expectations supported by visuals that help motivate and Nassist with task completion.

First/Then Boards

What Can You Use A First/Then Board For?

• To convey a rule

• To convey a short sequence of activities

• For transitions

Don’t Just Blow the Whistle, Coach Children to Think of a Solution…

• Remind children that for most problems there is a “solution” or a way to make it better…

• Stop! What’s the problem—Think of a possible solution

• Great tool for students with communication difficulties--Get a teacher --Ask nicely--Ignore --Play together--Say, “Please stop.”--Say, “Please.”--Share --Trade--Wait and take turns--Get a timer

Solution Cards

Visual Timers

Why Use A Visual Timer?

– Time is invisible. Visual timers help your student to see and “feel” nnthe passage of time.

Examples of Visual Timers

How To Use A Visual Timer

• Step 1: Determine “When” information NEEDS to be presented visually.

• Step 2: Select the way in which time will be visually presented

•Step 3: Fade your prompts as quickly as possible

What Can You Use A Visual Timer For?

• Memory prompt for transitions, specials, assemblies, therapies, etc.

• Relieve stress or anxiety

• Give heads up for transitions

Visual Schedules

Why Use Visual Schedules?•Allow a child to be in control and successful.

•Improves a child’s understanding by providing information in a structured and sequential way.

•Help children to function independently.

•Gain confidence and build self esteem.

Visual Schedules Provide Information•What events are going to occur

•The order that events will occur

•New activities that may occur

•Changes that might occur during regular activities

•When it is time to transition from one event to another

Simple Kindergarten Daily Schedule

Detailed Morning/Afternoon

Schedule

“Center time is done” put it in the “all done” envelope

Visual Schedules Increase Predictability

• Establish the concept of being finished

• Set expectations

• Decrease “surprises”

• Establish routines

• Provide a visual means to anticipate transitions

Fading Prompts• Students can become prompt dependent

• Start with all means of support ( verbal, physical, visual, etc… ) and begin weaning naway one prompt at a time

The goal is for the student to become independent!!!

Where can you go for support?

www.behaviorsupport.pbwiki.com

Strategies to start

Other Strategies

Social Curriculum

Social Stories

Visual Supports

Sibling Rivalry

Family Routine Guide

Classroom Routine Guide

Teaching Solutions

Specific Behaviors

Collecting Data

Activities to replace TV

This website is to be used as a behavior support for parents and teachers of preschool students. We are first and foremost teachers, and we have been trained in Positive Behavior Support.

We work for the Paterson Public School Early ChildhoodDepartment and would like to share some of the material and knowledge we have accumulated through the years.

We have found it helpful, and are HOPEFUL that you will too!

Welcome to our Wiki website!

http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/resources/strategies.html

• Scripted Stories for Social Situations • Tools for Working on “Building Relationships”

• Book List• Book Nook

• Teaching Social Emotional Skills • Tools for Developing Behavior Support Plans

Center On The Social and Emotional Foundations For Early Learning ( CSEFEL )

Website

CATSS PROCESSChild and Teacher Support Services

•Teacher completes Request for Assistance form ( RFA )

• Point Person contacts members of team

• CATSS meeting is held and strategies are given

• Determine next course of action: close case, continue to monitor, refer to CST, PBS

• ESI ( Early Screening Inventory ) * general screening tool testing all developmental areas* given to all 3 year olds and newly entering 4 year olds

* scores: Refer, Rescreen, OK

Questions&

Comments