Autism Soccer: A Comprehensive List of Tools to Improve Visual Skills

These visual tools aim to improve and develop very specific aspects such as sensory exploration, and object recognition.

Autistic children demand more than just attention and care. For them, life is no easy task to accomplish, as they find everyday activities a challenge to overcome. Even communication is difficult to carry out, due to the lack of visual understanding or interpretation of nonverbal language.

What does it take to improve these skills? It might seem hard, but through visual supports, children will stand a chance. Parents should identify these visual supports and start putting them into practice, the sooner, the better.

What are visual supports?

Visual supports refer to a set of tools that focus on reaching out to children and improve their visual-related skills, such as understanding social cues and emotions. Pictures, photographs, drawings, written words and even lists are considered to be visual supports. Their primary role should be to help children communicate with their parents.

Because they focus on basic learning skills, visual supports are necessary for growing children who lack or have troubles in understanding language and signals. Through them, social interaction can be developed early on.

To develop each of the visual tools included here, we’ll show you how they work and how to use them properly.

Visual schedules

Perhaps you have one yourself, a schedule to guide you on your day, but visual schedules are somewhat different. By creating a visual schedule for your children, they’ll be able to understand and develop a clearer image of each activity. A sequence of images with a brief explanation will do.

Regular schedules are not useful since they won’t engage with the children visually. With the addition of pictures, children might develop interest towards the program. It creates both a good habit and a visual tool for them. Be sure to reward each activity completed by your children throughout the day.

Pictures

For a long time, pictures have been one of the strongest visual stimuli in general. Taking advantage of pictures can help children learn certain concepts, such as activities in the morning routine or words of daily use. Pictures are the best source of information children can get their hands on, which is why they need to be catchy and easy to comprehend.

Parents and educators must focus on pictures that can help them have a clearer understanding. Every time an image is given, make a brief explanation of the picture so they can associate images with concepts.

Apps

Technology is continuously growing towards supporting children with autism. With all the educational applications and games adapted for them, parents must seek for the best option to help children improve their skills. Most apps focus on teaching basic vocabulary, while others showcase social cues and manners when communicating.

As we speak, there’s an app being developed to help your children out! But you must test them beforehand; then you can hand your smartphone or tablet to your kids and let them learn. Games can become quite addictive for autistic children, so be moderate with the times they spend with these.

Visual skills are necessary tools that shouldn’t be left out. Most autistic children face complications because they lack the needed skills to communicate or understand social cues. By improving their visual understanding of things, they’ll know how to interpret these signs better, turning a challenge into another easy task.

Ensuring a brighter future is your responsibility, which is why we recommend you reaching out to the team of Autism Soccer. Their staff is fully capable of teaching your children necessary developmental skills while teaching them to play soccer at the same time! See them happily grow as they exercise and enjoy their childhood, reach out to our team.