Tales of Super Zoey and Her Ordinary Mom: Building a Visual Schedule

Visual scheduling is a pretty big thing in the ASD treatment community. I know that I have recommended it for many of the clients I see for evals in PA. So it was no surprise to me that it was part of the recommendations we received when Zoey was first diagnosed. What did surprise me is how long it took me to get around to making it and how much I struggled with figuring out how to use it.

For the most part Zoey does fairly well with transitions, except for when we are transitioning to a task that she really doesn't want (i.e. bedtime). However, even with those transitions she is hit or miss. Sometimes she transitions just fine and other times there is a meltdown. When she does have a meltdown, they don't last too long, but they can still be emotionally exhausting for everyone. So I'm hopeful that the visual scheduling will help.

I just wasn't really sure how detailed or structured I wanted to make her schedule, so I consulted a FB group I belong to and got some feedback from parents who currently use a visual schedule for their kids. Today was the day that the schedule was created. I did some Google searches for clip art for the various daily tasks Zoey has to do. I also used some real pictures from my photos for some of the important family members in her life (i.e. aunt, grandparents), just so we could include visits with them in the schedule. I also had to do a separate picture for Zoey's group speech and her individual speech. This is an area where we have been having meltdowns. On Mondays she does group and then immediately does individual, but on Wednesdays she does group but doesn't have individual. Zoey gets very upset when we get in the elevator to leave because she thinks we are supposed to see Leslie again. Then there are off days like today, where we had to reschedule individual, so we went in on our off day and then didn't have group. That lead to a major meltdown. I'm hoping that these visual cues will help her understand what is happening and know what to expect.

So after I found all my pictures, I printed them off, laminated them, and then added a magnet to the back of each one. I took an old magnetic board we had and made a simple schedule for right now. I figure there will be some trial and error in terms of what works and what doesn't. We just used the schedule for the first time and used it to transition to bedtime. While Zoey was watching her evening wind down show, I showed the schedule to her and reviewed it. Then I just left it where she could see it. When her show was over I asked her what was next on her schedule and we smoothly transitioned through the whole bedtime routine. Not a single tear was shed. Zoey made a modification to the way I had her schedule set up. I had bought three colored square magnets (2.5" x 2.5") and I wasn't really sure what I was going to use them for. Well, Zoey saw them and decided that the task we were currently on went on them, so I rolled with it and used it to mark the task we were currently doing and then when we finished that task, we moved the next task to the pink square. Now I'm thinking that I will use that and then also use the small squares to help with transitions outside of the home since they will be more portable than the bigger magnet board. I think I'll try that tomorrow for when we go to speech and run errand afterwards.