Benefits of a Visual Schedule

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A visual schedule for a child on the autism spectrum can be amazing!

I’ve talked about it before on my post about setting up a reward system. A visual schedule has great benefits for your autistic child.

1. It Creates a Sense of Independence

As your child grows and matures you want them to gain independence. Children with autism may have a hard time with independence. A visual schedule helps them feel in control of their day, of their schedule.

2. It Creates Structure and Predictability

Majority of autistic children thrive on structure and predictability. I think we as humans thrive on structure and predictability. A visual schedule shows what needs to happen and what has already happened.

3. Less Prompting is Required from You (the parent)

Morning routines, evening routines, the whole day can get pretty hectic. A visual schedule will allow your child to see what they need to do, what is coming up next and help them feel responsible. This will free you up form prompting and nagging your child for EVERYTHING. It won’t eliminate it completely. You will more than once say “check your schedule please!”. But with time it will get easier.

I created a simple visual schedule that I am using with my boys and that you can use with your child.

Now this is not some magical or super complicated visual schedule. It’s very simple and easy to put together at home.

Simply print out the PDF’s that you receive in your email once you subscribe.

Next laminate the page that is for your child’s name. Fill in the name before or after lamination. You can even write in the time of day. I do not do this because our day’s are a little crazy and what is important to me is that everything gets accomplished in the day not WHEN it actually gets done.

I use this handy dandy lamination roll I purchased at Wal-mart.

You can then cut out the icons and laminate them. Cut them out. If the icons I provided are not enough or you want something different you can easily create your own. I just put mine together on a program called CANVA. It’s free and easy to use.

Next attach velcro to the visual schedule board and the back of the icon images.

There you have it!