Visual Strategies  for Communication

Communication breakdowns can be a “root” cause of problems in social interaction, educational performance, and behavior. Current thinking suggests that communication impairments transcend all aspects of the life of students with autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and others with moderate to severe communication or behavior challenges. While it is common for educational programming to establish a focus on the development of communication skills for these students, that focus tends to be directed toward developing the student’s expressive communication skills. Comparatively little attention is directed toward increasing the student’s ability to understand the communication in his life. 

It is commonly recognized that communication and social skill challenges are primary areas of difficulty for persons who experience Autism Spectrum Disorders. In addition, many students with other learning and behavior challenges experience significant difficulty developing effective skills. Their struggle with communication is more complicated than just the development of verbal language. Understanding the communication of others, trying to figure out what is happening or not happening, handling changes and transitions, and interpreting cues and signals in the environment can all be areas of difficulty for this population.

In the midst of their challenges, it is recognized that most of these students display a relative strength in visual skills. Capitalizing on that strength, the use of visual strategies to support communication has provided the structure necessary to substantially alter many problem situations.

An important goal when working with these students is to create an environment that will support communication and make communication breakdowns less likely to occur. This is accomplished in part by developing a system of visual tools and aids to increase communication effectiveness. Schedules, aids to give directions, aids to give information, and aids to establish and communicate rules are some of the tools designed to increase the student’s understanding of what is happening around him.

Using visually supported communication is an extremely helpful approach for students with communication and behavior challenges. Expanding the use of visual strategies is a needed dimension in developing appropriate communication skills, social interaction skills, and positive behavior for many students. Many people use a few visual tools in their homes and educational environments. Few people use this medium of communication support nearly as much as would be beneficial for these students.