Using Visuals in Early Childhood and Special Education Classrooms
Do you use visuals in your classroom?
Visual aids are hugely beneficial in preschool, kindergarten, and special education classrooms! Did you know that humans process images faster than words? It's true! That's why visual aids are such game-changers for these students. Especially for students who aren't reading yet or are learning English as a second language, visuals help everyone understand concepts without needing to rely solely on words.
Here are some of my favorite visuals that I use with my students every day, including a free printable first-then board, choice board, token board and Boardmaker picture icons!
Scroll down and keep reading to check them out!
1. Color Coded Lanyard Visuals
These color coded lanyard visuals / visual cue cards for preschool, kindergarten and special education (ECSE, SPED, Autism classrooms) make it easy to find the behavior visuals you need, when you need them! I wear these EVERY day!
This printable includes Boardmaker visuals in two skin tones. These behavior visual cue cards are in rainbow order, resulting in a beautiful addition to your keychain.
This visual lanyard printable helps both teachers and paras deliver non-verbal reminders which reduces interruptions during lessons. Great also for quiet environments (the library) and situations such as emergency drills.
Click here to check it out!
2. Classroom Wide Visual Schedule
Are you doing back to school classroom set up and need a classroom schedule as part of your classroom decor? This visual schedule comes with 70 schedule cards with pictures (Boardmaker Picture Icons / Symbols). This printable visual schedule is appropriate for preschool / prek, kindergarten, grade 1-8, and special education classrooms!
These Visual Schedules are great if you want to implement tier 1 strategies as part of a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach.
Check out the printable visual schedule here!
3. Stop and Go Signs
Use these printable stop sign posters and go sign visuals on doors (to help with elopement), as bathroom door posters, and visuals for movement breaks (walk break, adaptive bike ride, or games such as red light, green light, freeze dance etc.).
They are great during brain breaks, movement breaks, DPA (Daily Physical Activity), recess games, and physical education / phys. ed warm ups.
You can also use these on classroom centers, closed areas, and bathroom doors to show students if the bathroom is available or occupied. Just teach your students to flip them from GO to STOP when they enter the restroom, and back over once finished. Check them out here!
4. Emotional Regulation Visuals
This "I feel, I want, I need" self-regulation communication board helps students learn and recognize their feeling and emotions, and incorporates calm down visuals of calming strategies they can use to self regulate when feeling sad, angry, tired, hurt, hungry, thirsty, silly or other emotions.
This communication board comes with interactive pieces to allow the student to take the pieces off and build sentences "I feel" and "I want". It comes with visuals in 6 different skin tones, as well as in black and white.
This is a great support to add to any morning meeting routine, calm corner, or daily check in. Click here to see how I prepped it using a personal laminator.
5. Individualized Visual Schedule
(with First Then and Token Boards)
This token board based visual schedule flip book comes with a token board based visual schedule, a choice board, a first then board, task images (real images) and social stories. The best part? If you work in a classroom with a fairly consistent routine (like I do), you only have to set it up once!
I love no longer having to set up a daily routine multiple times a day. Now all we need to do is turn the pages! This helps the student, and all staff (including prep teachers, paras, and supply staff) to know exactly what is expected of the student, and what they are working toward.
This visual schedule flip book is more than just a schedule though. Click here to learn about what makes it so special!
6. First Then Board, Token Board, Boardmaker PCS & more!
Do you need a behavior chart or behavior management visual aids for your special education classroom? Here is a FREE token board, free first then board and free choice board with Boardmaker picture icons! These visual aids are perfect for students in kindergarten, preschool / prek, and special education classrooms.
With this booklet you can carry around both a token board, first then board and all the pieces! It's an EASY TO PREP book that comes with room to store all your tokens, as well as task and reinforcer images.
Click here to get this freebie now!