Why should you believe in visual aids?

A picture is worth 1,000 words… When you look into my child’s eyes, you can see the difference.

For children with autism, visual aids are critical to their learning process and retention of that learned material. After all, what is a memory? You recall events and details with a picture from your mind. In a young brain with a neurological disorder, pictures are key to helping strengthen these fragile neurons. If you have ever heard of people with brain injuries who have therapy to literally re-wire their brain because the normal paths are not functioning properly, you will better understand this process.

The Benefits of Visual Aids (i.e. Thinking in Pictures)

Whether you know it or not, we all use visual aids every day.  Visual aids help us to retain information, respond appropriately and follow the rules.  Take for instance, the STOP sign.  Now immediately you get a visual in your brain for what it looks like and you immediately know what it means. 

Now imagine that the STOP sign changed its shape and color.  How would you respond? Would you even notice it?  Would you notice it in time to stop?

Changing the shape and color of the STOP sign would have disasterous effects.  Our brains have been trained to recognize this sign in an instant.  Visual aids work much the same way for children with autism or other developmental delays.  The visual cue can have a profound impact on learning and retention of learned material.

Take a look at just some of the visual aids that can be created for your students!