Introduction
Imagine homework that is fun to do! Homework activities can actually become
a desirable part of a student's life routine. In fact, students actually
want to take the time to do it. Yes, some homework can be good. .
. .it just needs to be the right kind.
Although homework is a traditional standard in education, it may not serve the same function for students with autism spectrum disorders. Typical homework may include activities such as practicing math skills and spelling words; assignments given for the purpose of practicing academic skills or teaching responsibility. The problem is, these purposes and functions may get lost with students whose primary educational needs are different.
Those who understand the long-term challenges of autism spectrum disorders would agree that acquiring effective communication skills and social competence are some of the most significant needs of these students. Giving students support and opportunity to develop those skills should be of highest priority.
Probably, most homework that is assigned is not used as a means to teach those critical social and communication skills. In fact, traditional academic homework assignments may actually serve to cause significant family stress and behavior incidents. When students do not understand its purpose, it becomes "another thing someone wants me to do." Traditional homework frequently increases frustration and stress in student's lives rather than increasing his ability to become more prepared for adulthood. Taking time out of the student's day to do traditional homework can actually rob him of the time he needs to practice those social and communication skills that are his most important skills to learn. Traditional assignments can end up producing the exact opposite of our desired goals.
Moving the educational focus away from academic practice and aiming toward enhancing social and communication opportunities opens new ways to look at the concept of homework. Homework designed to give students more practice developing relevant, meaningful communication skills serves an important purpose. Visual Bridges are visual tools used to develop communication skills and support social interaction. They help students make relevant connections between home and school. Creating and using these visual tools is an excellent way to give homework a functional and useful purpose.
What is a Visual Bridge?
Think of the purpose of a bridge. It connects the land on one side
of the river with the land on the other side of the river. The bridge
connects two environments, allowing people to move from one side or
city to the other. Visual Bridges serve the same purpose. They are
visual tools that help students to communicate information about themselves
and their lives to other people in other environments.
Please explain more!
One of the
greatest desires of families, teachers, and friends of these students
is to find out more about them and their life experiences. This is
the information on which friendships and relationships are built.
These students don't tend to be very skilled at sharing information
about their lives. Students who are non-verbal or those with limited
language ability need support to be able to share information. Even
those students who have more conversation ability frequently have
difficulty remembering what to say, staying on the topic of the conversation,
or giving all the information.
How does this work?
Think about
what can happen when a student comes home from school to face a question
like, "What did you do in school today?" Depending on the student,
there may be no answer or there may be an answer with a lot of words
but not much content. Teachers face the same dilemma. Great effort
is often put into attempting to extract information from students
about their experiences outside the classroom. When questioning to
find out what has happened in a student's life in another environment,
the communication void can be wide.
Today at School and Last Night at Home are communication tools that the student prepares in one environment to help him communicate more effectively in another environment. Use pictures or written language or whatever other visual forms the student understands. Help him prepare a visual tool that gives some information about something that happened in his life. Think about the types of information students like to share in conversation. This is what I did. . . this is where I went. . .this is what I bought at the store. The process of putting the information in a visual form is important because it helps students understand what information to share with others. Then when the student goes to the other environment, the visual tool helps the student communicate that information to someone else. Because it is visual, it helps the person who is receiving the message to understand what the student is attempting to communicate. As communication partners, we can guide the student toward more complete conversation if we know some of the information.
Why do you make it visual?
Because making it visual helps the students understand better. It
helps them remember. Remember, these are students who tend to understand
what they see better than what they hear. Therefore, putting the information
into a visual form is an important learning experience. The visual
tools encourage the communication partners to become more involved
in the social interaction. They help to extend and expand social interaction.
The visual support makes conversations much more effective that just
trying to have a verbal conversation.
What does this have to do with homework?
Preparing and using these communication tools helps students develop
some critically important skills. Creating the tools and communicating
the information they contain is the homework!
Which students would benefit from this activity?
Most students!
The concept of Today at School and Last Night at Home can be developed
to support communication for students across many age and ability
levels. Of course, the activity needs to be adapted to a level that
individual students can understand and use. There are limitless ways
that these tools can be developed. See the examples.
What do you try to accomplish with this activity? What are the goals?
Although this activity accomplishes many purposes, there are three major goals.
1.
Mediate communication between home and school or other significant
environments
This gives the student the responsibility of sharing information about
himself. He learns more about sharing, telling, asking for information,
conversation skills, and remembering things he needs to be responsible
for. Most important, he learns to take more initiative for social
interactions.
2.
Stimulate and expand functional communication
It is not unusual for these students to miss the "Guess what I did!"
part of social communication. Perhaps they don't know how to initiate
a conversation. They may not remember what to talk about or what information
to share. Preparing and reviewing these tools is an excellent opportunity
to teach more about social conversation. This activity enhances development
of useful vocabulary. These visual tools can support the development
of verbal skills. They help students learn more about what to communicate.
3.
Provide more opportunities for the student to engage in communication
and conversation about his personal experiences
Since this activity focuses on the student's personal experiences,
there is a high level of interest. This structure helps students make
decisions about what information to share. It provides them with a
way of organizing their thoughts so they can communicate more effectively.
The Visual Bridges become a tool to support both the student and his
communication partner in a conversation about his experience. The
visual information provides cues for both people so they know what
to ask or what to tell. This serves to extend social interactions
and enhance the quality of information that is shared.
Are
you sure this is homework?
Not
only is it homework, it is a really fun and meaningful for students.
One part of the homework can be having an experience; going somewhere
or engaging in some type of activity. Preparing to share the information
with others is the other part.
Can you show me some more examples of what Visual Bridges can look like?
Sure! Remember that this is an opportunity to be creative. For a younger
child, the package from the McDonald's French Fries could be that
communication tool to help share information. It can be that simple.
For student with more academic ability, there are endless formats
that work. The real goal is to put the information into a visual format
to support communication and social interaction. Look at these samples:
(Click on a picture to see it larger)
How do you do this activity? How do you make Visual Bridges?
It is critical that the student participate as much as possible. How
he participates will depend on what skills he already has. One student
may select a picture or draw a circle. Other students may be able
to write sentences or journals giving specific information. Since
the reading and writing is directly related to the student's personal
experiences, this is an excellent to opportunity to make academic
skills functional and meaningful to the student.
This is a wonderful opportunity to become creative. Draw pictures. Take photos. Find advertising circulars. Look through computer clip art. Photocopy important items. There are endless, excellent resources for this communication activity. Get the students engaged in finding and producing the visual supports. Once the student prepares the communication tool, rehearsing what it says or how to use it can become another step to prepare to share the information in another environment.
Have you seen this activity benefit students?
Yes! When educators and parents work together, preparing Visual Bridges
can become an integral part of school and home routines. Of course,
this strategy needs to be implemented at the student's level of comprehension.
It does not matter if the student is verbal or nonverbal. The visual
format helps engage student attention and participation no matter
what his level of skill.>
Do you have any other observations?
To derive the most from Visual Bridges such as Today at School or Last
Night at Home, it is essential for the people on both ends to understand
the purpose. It does take time to develop Visual Bridges and it takes
time to participate in the communication that they generate. The rewards
in student communication can far outweigh the time and effort devoted.
This activity may not look like traditional homework, however, it
will be an effective tool to help develop the social and communication
skills that are essential for successful adulthood. Ultimately that
is the goal.
Where can I learn more?
The book
Visual Strategies for Improving Communication
contains a lot more information
about using Visual Bridges such as Today at School and Last Night at Home.
This article was originally published in The Morning News,
Volume 12 No. 2.
Carol Gray, the editor of this international newsletter is well known
for her work in developing the use of Social Stories for students
with autism spectrum disorders.
To see more great articles, subscribe to this quarterly newsletter.
For more information visit www.thegraycenter.org
