Influence of Visual Aids in Children with Autism

Situation
Currently in Singapore, there are more than an estimated 30,000
people who suffer from autism spectrum disorder (ASD)1. With such
a sizeable group, it is important to consider the learning styles that
need to be changed in order to cater to the children of this group as
forcing them to adapt to an education system not suited to their
abilities would cause distress towards them. It is known that most
children who suffer from autism have a wide capacity for visual
spatial skills while performing poorly at verbal skills2. As such, the
use of visual aids for educating autistic persons is an excellent
method in conveying messages and instructions and it is necessary
to develop such an aspect in the autistic childs education.
Impacts
Positive

Negative

1) Use of visual aid allows free and

open interpretation, developing
the creative ability of the target
audience. This is especially helpful
in the case of ASD-affected
persons as creative work in a
medical setting helps them rebuild
a sense of self-hope, self-esteem,
autonomy and competence3.

1) Visual aids are mainly print

material. As such, it is difficult to
constantly update and change
these aids as it takes time to
create and to switch the materials
used for instruction.

2) Visual aids provide a nonintrusive strategy intervention that

may be easily altered to suit the
needs of individual persons in
adapting to social and behavioral
standards4.

2) In the case of when there is

little or no light available, the
visual aids cannot be seen
properly and
messages/instructions are unable
to be conveyed coherently.

1 Estimate size of persons with ASD in Singapore, No 7:

http://www.saac.org.sg/faqs.html
2 Discussed by well-known American doctor of animal science, who
also suffers from ASD, Temple Grandin:
http://www.grandin.com/inc/visual.thinking.html
3 On the effects of creative work in medical settings, Page 9:
http://www.arttherapy.org/upload/arttherapybibliographyselectstudie
sarticlespublications.pdf
4 Visual aids usefulness in ASD, refer to Final Thoughts, Page 33:
http://eds.ucsd.edu/about/Courses/EDS382/General_Handouts/Autis
m-Visual%20Supports.pdf

Strategies to Expand on Positive Impacts and Diminish Negative

Impacts
Develop a set of flashcards using existing
smartphone/tablet applications
- List of flashcards of common everyday instructions for
schooling
- Sort out flashcards into categories for different activities
during a school day (e.g. Classroom, Eating, Dismissal),
helping teachers easily access various instructions for a
single activity
- Convenient due to touch-screens available on devices
- Facilitators are able to easily swap between cards instead
of juggling between sheets of paper
- Smartphones/tablets are widely owned by many people
thus circulation is easy
- Applications are able to share sets of flashcards, ensuring
that institutes have a common so as to prevent confusion
- Applications which help with the creation and organization
of flashcards are already available5 on various platforms
application web stores
- Backlight of smartphone and tablet allows instructional
cards to be viewed in darker areas
- Compactness also helps instructions be conveyed
anywhere
- Pictures on flashcards have to be hand drawn, then further
digitally enhanced using programs such as Adobe
Photoshop
Handcrafted 3D instructional structures
- Craft 3D models for instruction which protrude
- This engages the child in more than the sense of mere
sight, including touch too
- It holds the childs interest for a longer time due to the
presence of exploration with this multi-sensory approach
- These models can be crafted with paper mache and as
they are relatively light, can be hung on common hallways
easily

5 Information on apps which produce flashcards:

http://appadvice.com/appguides/show/flashcard-apps-for-the-ipad