Visual Supports for People with Autism: A Guide for Parents and Professionals

Author: Marlene J. Cohen, Ed.D., BCBA and Donna L. Sloan, M.A., BCBA
Publishing Info: Paperback 225 pages / June 2007

Most of us use visual supports in our daily lives—for example, a shopping list, calendar, or a roadmap. Visual supports are particularly beneficial to people with autism because they help make abstract concepts concrete and capitalize on the user’s inherent visual learning strengths.

Visual Supports for People with Autism shows parents and educators how incorporating these aids while teaching can improve academic performance, behavior, interaction with others, and self-help skills.

In a friendly, conversational-style, the authors, both certified behavior analysts, describe the deficits typical of autism—language, memory, temporal sequential skills, attention, motivation, and social skills—and present strategies to use visual supports to address those issues at school and home. This guide presents an abundance of examples, illustrated by dozens of black & white and color photos.

Visual Supports also explains considerations such as portability, durability, preferences, age appropriateness and effectiveness.