This is the first visual schedule I made for Chace. I saw a lot of examples on the Do2Learn website before, but I wasn't sure where to start using it. We have our own routines with Chace but his day isn't absolutely uniform all through out. Like he knows how to pray before meals, he knows how to wash his hands with minimal guidance from me, and we have our own established bedtime routines.
For now, I'm trying to get him used to having a visual schedule just for when we do his speech therapy at home. I'm hoping to use it for other things later on, especially activities where he needs to practise focusing his attention and not get distracted. The idea is we take off the activity card when we're done with that particular activity and we place it in our "All Done" box.
I made this with a trial version of Boardmaker Pro, which is nice because it makes it so easy to look up picture cards, resize them and prepare them for printing. I make my own boards, but they also have templates and premade boards that you can use. You can also find more Boardmaker templates on Boardmaker Share. The downside is that the trial is good only for 30 days, and the paid version is really expensive (around $399). The alternative is you can just take pictures of the actual objects your child uses for his activities and use those on your visual schedule.
Then I just used a foam board and some Velcro dots, bought from our nearest Staples store. The Velcro makes it a little sturdier for frequent use. If you don't have Velcro, you could also use binder clips to fasten the picture cards to the board.
The visual schedule helps kids who have difficulty focusing on the task at hand, and is particularly useful for kids with autism, like Chace, because they easily get distracted. It can be used for any daily activity, to teach your child the proper sequence of activities, and also to prepare your child's expectations of what comes next in his daily schedule.
As I write this, I'm already trying to think of other ways to incorporate this into Chace's day. I'll keep you posted :)
The visual schedule helps kids who have difficulty focusing on the task at hand, and is particularly useful for kids with autism, like Chace, because they easily get distracted. It can be used for any daily activity, to teach your child the proper sequence of activities, and also to prepare your child's expectations of what comes next in his daily schedule.
As I write this, I'm already trying to think of other ways to incorporate this into Chace's day. I'll keep you posted :)
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