Using Visual Supports in Special Education Classrooms

Using Visual Supports in Special Education Classrooms
  
Visuals are HUGE for kids with moderate to severe disabilities. They're are awesome for helping to manage behaviors as well as working on academic skills. Check out some of the newest visuals I added to our classroom.

Visual boundaries:
I love to use colored duct tape (from the Dollar Tree) to create visual boundaries.

Schedule and Rules:

Use Boardmaker or clipart pictures to adapt your schedule, rules, and core values.

Using Visual Supports in Special Education Classrooms
Visual schedule 

Using Visual Supports in Special Education Classrooms
Class rules with pictures.

Color coding:
For students who aren't able to read their name yet, use a color coded system to label student materials like desks, cubbies, lockers, art supplies, etc. At the beginning of the year, I "assign" each student a colored shape and label all of their materials with that shape. Students begin to identify their name/shape pretty quickly.

Here's how it works: I also use a color coded system in my read aloud library. I use this picture exchange book so students can request what story they want to read. The book is color coded into two colors (red and yellows) based on fiction and fairy tales and then I have color coded bins.
-A student opens the binder to pick a story.
-If the student picks a book off a yellow page, then he knows to go to the bin with a yellow label to find the specific book.

Using Visual Supports in Special Education Classrooms

Using Visual Supports in Special Education Classrooms

Using Visual Supports in Special Education Classrooms

Using Visual Supports in Special Education Classrooms

I hope these pictures help you to implement more visual supports into your classroom!