Visual Aid Your Way to Success
Using visuals at home is an effective and costless way to improve children’s speech and language skills and abilities. Visual aids have been shown to help advance communication. Visual aids can be broken down into any object that is viewed – it could be an object, picture, or sign. Visual aids can fall under the term of an alternate form of communication.
When it comes to introducing visual aids to students, there are several tips you can follow to help advance the experience. The first step is to always explain the importance of visual aids. If you do not explain the importance, there will be a lack of usage due to the inability to correlate why they use them and how they will use them. Another trick for introducing the object is to always use different settings in context. By using the visual aid in multiple settings, it will help with the generalization of it and will also show an increase in usage of it. Using motivating visual aids also enhances the experience for the child. Finally, always make the visual aid accessible to them. The child cannot use the visual aid or benefit from it if it is not within their sight.
There are diverse ways you can utilize the visual aid to help support the child’s communication. Some different activities you can use are for start and finishing activities, sequencing activities, allowing choices, expressing emotions, showing a visual for transitions that can ease them, and finally promoting and supporting independence.
Overall, there has been an abundance of evidence supporting the usage of visual aids – whether it is in the classroom or at home. The evidence shows that there has been a decrease in anxiety, increasing independence, calmer emotions, smoother transitions, and even supporting following directions. By incorporating the use of visual aids, it will not only help the child become more independent but also increase their expression and language use.
References
References
https://ncse.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Using-Visuals-to-Support-Communication.pdf