Abstract

Visual supports have been proven to be a highly effective way to communicate with, and teach, a student with an autism spectrum disorder or other learning difficulty.

This book is packed with simple, effective tools to assist in the education of students with special education needs. They can be adapted to be used with young children and older learners with a range of educational needs, including nonverbal learners. Based on the author's years of teaching experience, the book covers how the classroom environment is laid out, how to use schedules and time planning aids, different education approaches and the teaching of social rules and appropriate behavior. All the visual supports are clearly explained alongside examples and photos showing them in use in the classroom. The supports are also included on the accompanying online downloadable content as blank templates.

This will be a welcome resource of easy-to-use ideas for mainstream and special education teachers. Therapists, parents and anyone working with students with learning difficulties will also find many of the ideas useful.

Research has confirmed that in people with autism, word based tasks are processed in the visual parts of the brain. So, if Confucius said 'a picture is worth a thousand words' – it is certainly a maxim for the hundreds of thousands of students who are visual thinkers.

Lisa Rogers' book 'Visual Supports for Visual Thinkers' makes a compelling case for taking these words of wisdom into the homes, classrooms and workplaces, where visual learners can often struggle with understanding.

Visual supports can make the transient more tangible and ensure that information is processed with ease and speed. Lisa takes field-tested strategies and makes them easily accessible to the mainstream. By engaging with and implementing the strategies in this comprehensive book, you will be providing an illumination of light bulb moments for visual thinkers everywhere.

Just picture that, if you can!

K.I. Al-Ghani, special education teacher and trainer, author of several books relating to special education for children and adults
Lisa Rogers has been an educator for over 25 years, working with students with special and diverse needs. She has a Master's in Special Education and is the Director of Educating Diverse Learners, which works with educators, students and their families, offering consultations, classroom support and training in school districts. Lisa has created training products that have been used throughout the state of Texas and has produced state-wide courses targeting the importance of visual strategies for student with autism spectrum disorders. She lives in San Antonio, Texas.
This is an ideal guide for families, teachers, instructional assistants, and other school personnel who want examples of a variety of visuals to address multiple purposes. It provides clear pictures and drawings as well as practitioner friendly explanations for why the visuals will help the student with autism spectrum disorders.
Rose Iovannone, Ph.D., BCBA-D, University of South Florida
Visual Supports for Visual Thinkers is packed with tools perfect for use with children who have a range of educational needs, and shows how to create a classroom environment that accommodates all levels of need... A fine pick educators will relish as a treasure trove of tested ideas for better classroom visualization.
Midwest Book Review
For those interested in classroom interventions for people with ASD this book will be a delight. Lisa has a very down to earth and pragmatic way of presenting the basic intervention strategies… Her many vivid examples make the principles come alive and help the reader to understand them fully and their implementation in a way that few other books on this topic are able to do. If all this is not enough, beyond the basics, one also learns how each part of the intervention is connected to the other parts and what empirical research forms the foundation of what you are learning. All in all this is a great package that will inform, expand, and excite the reader with lots of new and exciting ways to better understand what they are doing and many fresh ideas for how to do it better.
From the foreword by Gary B. Mesibov, Professor Emeritus, University of North Carolina
Lisa Rogers helped me understand neurological stress! This book helped me plan out solutions for many students in my school, not just students with ASD. I want my new teachers to read this so that they will gain another perspective for all the kids in their classroom.
John Hinds, Principal, North East Independent School District, Texas
In this book, Lisa Rogers imparts a plethora of examples showing how to execute and link fundamental strategies and interventions that will facilitate learning and student success. They are research-based, practical and easy to implement. Anyone working with students with an autism spectrum disorder or other learning challenge will find this book to be a very valuable tool.
Georgia Manuel, Autism and Significant Disability Facilitator, Iberia Parish School District, New Iberia, Louisiana