#390 - Using Visual Supports for Sensory Regulation

A lot of our clients use language differently. They either maybe are non speaking or pre verbal and they don't communicate in the same way. So making sure that we're meeting them where they're at and we give them the opportunity to learn and communicate

and see exactly what the plan is for the day and how they're you know, what activities they want to do. So whether it's an AAC device, whether it's, you know, a visual schedule like we're talking about, just making sure that we are meeting them where they're at for their communication needs. I'm Rachel and I'm Jessica and this is All Things Sensory by Harkla. We are both certified occupational therapy assistants and together with Harkla we are on a mission to empower parents.

therapists and educators to help raise confident and strong children of all abilities. On this podcast, we chat about all things sensory, diving into special needs, occupational therapy, parenting, self-care, overall health and wellness, and so much more. We are here to provide raw, honest, and fun strategies, ideas, and information for parents, therapists, and educators, as well as other professionals to implement into daily life. Thank you so much for joining us.

Hey there, welcome back to All Things Sensory by Harkla. We're so happy to have you here for another amazing, unique episode. I'm Rachel. I'm Jessica. And today we're talking about visual supports and you know, providing visual schedules and visual tools to help children thrive and learn better and meet them where they're at. Yeah, we've talked about visual schedules a lot. And we're gonna just add more to it and how visual support. of a variety of different types of visuals.

can help with transitions, routines, emotional regulation. In all environments. So in the clinic, at home, at school, wherever your child is spending the majority of their time, how can you use visual supports to help them? So let's first start off and talk about some different examples of what visual schedules, visual supports look like.

like the first thing is just a visual schedule, right? So whether you have pictures of the activities that the child's doing, you have a written list of a visual schedule of the activities that you're doing in therapy, um, you know, whether you have like a little I don't know, the one that we have, it's like a list of their morning schedule and then there's like a little button that you switch over and then we have one with picture cards that you take out and you put in

Um, so that's a first example. Um, I mean even just a calendar, like a family calendar on the wall, calendar of the month, calendar of the week. you know, specifically talking about for home or for school, but you can also have this in the clinic as well. Um, yeah, visual schedule. I think we all use them. Whether it's the visual schedule, your calendar on your phone, your to do list your to do list on your phone or a paper to do list or a paper planner.

Um, those are all examples of visual schedules. When I, you know, in the new year I was like redoing my a health and wellness routine and I had to literally write everything down that I needed to do in the morning and at night. No. Of like, you know, with my health stuff that I had going on. It was like, do the vibrating plate, do the castor oil pack, do the tongue scrape or do like

Put your freaking mouth guard in at night, you know? It was just like I needed to see it so I didn't feel as overwhelmed. Yeah, absolutely. So we all do it. We all need'em. Yep. Next are visual timers. And these can be like a handheld timer. What's the Buddy Watch? Oh, that's not what I was thinking of. I was thinking of oh, the time timer is really great. Or a sand timer.

The buddy watch. The buddy watch is like a five minute and one minute timer that you turn on and it's like a little wrist watch. Mm-hmm. And it it has lights and it blinks and it makes some sound when it's done. The bubble timer is another one. Bubble timers or an app on a tablet, an app on your phone. The one that I use most often is it's just children's timer.

And it's got a picture of the yellow duck. Yes. Um, I mean even just if you go to your clock app in your phone, there's a timer right there. Stopwatch or a timer. Um, so those are also really great visual support. Yep. And then other visuals that we love are for emotional intelligence programs. So things like the zones of regulation, the alert program, how does your engine run?

The um um the unthinkables or the super flex curriculum, which kind of helps with some of those emotional regulation skills. breathing tools, like visuals to help us take those deep breaths. Um, number scales, like how are you feeling today or where are you at on your level? I also think about like the thermometer one. We have the thermometer visual which is really cool to identify

you know, how you're feeling, how you're doing, or what's the other one the size of the problem sizes? Like how big is your problem, what size is your problem? That's a good visual as well. Love that one. I use that. terminology all the time. Yeah, it's really good. That was a big problem. Okay. Big problem go to the emergency. Go to the emergency room. Yes. Yes.

So why do we love using these in our treatment settings and our home life? Like we all use these schedules and these visual tools. This is something that we have used for years and years and years. Really the biggest thing is it provides structure. It shows kids

what they're doing, it gives them that expectation. It's a lot easier to go into a session knowing, Hey, these are the things we're gonna do today versus it being like a wild card, like, Oh, we're gonna do this and then we're gonna do this and they can't see it and they can't picture it and visualize visualize it. Exactly. Yeah. Helps them understand like you said, what they're doing, what's coming next, and when it's going to happen. And then also provides

um helps with attention and focus. I'm thinking specifically you know, a simple visual schedule or a visual timer to complete a task so the child knows This is gonna end. This non preferred challenging activity is going to end. And I know when it's going to end and I know what I'm gonna do afterwards. So I can just put all my attention to it for right now because

Yeah. I'm gonna be able to move on. I just feel like it helps keep them on track too. Like they're you know, I'm just seeing reflex integration clients and if I have a list of the things that we're gonna do versus if I just come in and wing it, the kids do so much better when they get to cross everything off and they can see, oh, at the end they get to pick an activity that they wanna do or whatever it is, right? So that is a game changer, just a

Simple visual they can see and cross off. It does provide that sense of autonomy and sense of control for them when they get to do that as well. Exactly. And then it really helps to understand emotions and feelings when we're using pictures of facial expressions. Pictures of other people to understand nonverbal body cues and facial expressions of.

Why what do you think this person is feeling when they're smiling and laughing and really helps with that understanding? Yeah, and a lot of our clients You know, use language differently. They either maybe are non-speaking or pre-verbal and they don't communicate in the same way. So making sure that we're meeting them where they're at and we give them the opportunity to learn and communicate and see exactly what the

the plan is for the day and how they're you know, what activities they wanna do. So whether it's an AAC device, whether it's, you know, a visual schedule like we're talking about, just making sure that we are meeting them where they're at for their communication needs. Yeah, I didn't even think we should have added this to the list of different types of visual supports, but an AEC. Would be a type of visual support. Definitely. Yeah. So some of our favorite visual supports for transitions.

Whether this is at home transitioning from you know, the meal table to brushing your teeth or if you're transitioning in the clinic from treatment gym to go sit down at the table, or if you're at school and you're transitioning from recess back into the classroom, what visual supports can you use? The first one is of course a visual schedule. This could be just a whiteboard and a marker. That's

That's kind of what we use most of the time in the clinic setting. Um or like a Velcro laminated to do or first. First, then with pictures that are on the Velcro board, and then they take them off and put them over on the done side or put in a bag put away when they're finished. Yeah, and then also some sort of a countdown t you know a timer so that way they see, like Jessica mentioned, the non preferred task is going to end. I do feel like our um

A lot of our kids struggle with those transitions. So any way to make that process a little bit smoother using visuals can be helpful. Even, you know, going one step further you know, we're talking about visuals, but making the transition an activity itself, like doing an animal walk from

the table to the line, right? So giving them built-in sensory breaks as part of those transitions can be really helpful too. Well and you can use different visual supports for that as well. You can use a picture of the animal walk. You can use a picture of a movement activity.

activity or you know, there's the different dice, like we even have our sensory dice, our Hercules sensory activity dice that the child can roll and do the movement to transition to the next activity. So it's still a type of visual support when you're including pictures. Um for sure. Whatever type of picture you're using. For sure. Yep.

The other thing that I like to do for transitions, especially if we're transitioning from a preferred activity to maybe something that's more challenging or non-preferred, will be checkoff boxes. So I'll just use a small little whiteboard. we'll say, Okay, we're gonna do this activity, maybe it's the slide. We're gonna do the slide five times and I'll draw five boxes, and each time the child goes down the slide, they come and they mark off the box, and once all five boxes are marked off,

Okay, we're all done with the slide, now it's time to go. And that's pretty effective. It's pretty effective. Yeah, definitely. I also have used a stop and go sign for some kiddos who are really impulsive and they're struggling with like eloping or running away or you know, just those really impulsive behaviors. We just would make a laminated stop sign and a laminated ghost sign with a tongue depressor and we'd practice like Simon Says type activities and, you know,

give them an animal walk to do and when you know, stop and then go and you know, pretty straightforward that way. But sometimes having that visual for our really impulsive kiddos, if you're in a sensory gym or if you're in the classroom and you can just carry those with you so that way you can hold it up. Maybe you don't need to say anything. Maybe just them seeing the visual is enough of a reminder to be like, oh geez, that's right, I shouldn't.

you know, blurt out the answer before I raise my hand. Something like that. That's actually a really good tool to have in the classroom, I think. Uh some of our favorite favorite visual supports.

For routines like at home. First is a visual schedule. Um, but this can be Or you can have a visual schedule for the entire day. You could have a visual schedule for part of the day. So maybe your child goes to school. So you have a visual schedule for the morning routine and the after school routine and the evening routine. And so you have three separate visual routines.

Visual schedules that you use. You can also do a visual schedule for a specific task and break down the specific tasks like brushing teeth. And you can have each step of toothbrushing broken down on the visual schedule so your child can see it and know exactly what they need to do in what order. Here's the kicker though. If you want to implement a visual schedule at home or visual support, you know, uh bedtime routine for example.

If you don't actually teach it to your child and carry it over, they're not gonna go and do it on their own. Yeah, you have to do it with them. You have to do it. I would teach it eighty percent of the time. And and be consistent with it. It's all fun and games to have all the visual schedules, all the things, right? right? Maybe speaking from experience here

Maybe. But you also have to do them. You have to hold your child accountable. You have to hold yourself accountable. Exactly. Yeah, you know. It's true. Um, I will give one more example of uh a way of using a visual schedule that I found helpful. You know, we have this one where it's got little activity cards and I would give my kiddos

a card, you know, let's say it it's get dressed, you know,'cause I feel like I'm always like, Okay, go get dressed, Okay, it's time to go get dr okay, if I tell you to go get dressed one more time, I'm gonna lose my mind. So I instead don't say anything and I give them their card and I say set the timer so I say here's your job.

go get dressed and come back to me before the timer is up. And that works wonders as well because it's that visual. It's so easy to go into their room, get distracted by toys or treasures or whatever it is, forget what they need to do And then here I am, I'm like, Have you gotten dressed yet? Well, no. They have their reminder, they have their cue card and they have to bring it back to you in order to check it off their list. And you've done it with them.

Yeah. They have the skills to be able to do it. Because you've worked and done it with them. Correct. And we had a very similar experience with my son a couple years ago the morning before school routine was really difficult because I was getting ready for work while he was getting ready. He was getting ready for school and it was just a constant reminder of Logan, go brush your teeth, Logan, go get dressed, Logan, get your stuff ready, Logan, go do this.

every single day, every morning and I just remember I think I've talked about this on the show before, but one day I was just like, Are you tired of me telling you what to do every morning before school? And he was like, Yes. And I said, I'm tired of it too. And so we made a visual schedule. I practiced what I preach. We made our visual schedule, laminated it, e-colored it, and we practiced it. And it was still especially in the beginning a lot of me being like, Hey

What do you need to do next? What's next on your schedule? What's next on your list? But he did get to a point again, neurotypical, um, but still very applicable and doable with a neurodivergent child, but after a certain amount of time he was mostly independent with us with this and I'd say this was probably like second and third grade ish. Um

And he got to a point where he was pretty independent with it. It was on the fridge. He would come, he would check everything off with his marker, go do the next thing. Um, but it does take work. in the beginning. Absolutely. Yeah, definitely. We just don't want you to think that if you just get this beautiful visual schedule set up that it's just gonna magically solve all your problems. And unfortunately that's just not the case. It it does take work to implement.

But it's worth it. Yeah. Definitely. Definitely. Uh the next one for at home transitions, routines specifically would be an intelligence.

It's an emotional intelligence program to start identifying feelings and emotions throughout the day. Um, this is really beneficial for your child to be able to advocate For what they need in the moment to advocate for their sensory needs, adding sensory activities into the daily routine so that they feel more regulated, but they have to be able to identify their emotions first. Yes. So this is where something like the zones of regulation comes in.

That's my personal favorite. But there's a lot out there that are helpful too. And teaching it to the child, sending home the handouts. putting the handouts on the fridge and practicing identifying those emotions. Yeah, and I really like to take it one step further once they've mastered recognizing the different zones and how they're feeling and they can independently communicate to us like, yeah, I'm in the yellow zone. Okay, great. You've identified the

Now we're gonna add some you know strategies to our chart that says, you know, okay, I'm in the yellow zone. Here are some activities that I know will help me and I can independently choose those activities. Again, this takes practice, this takes teaching, but ideally you'll have some. have some activities for each of the different zones and you can have them

you know, choose which activity they need and you can provide them the least amount of cues as possible. If they are feeling really angry or really mad, you can just kind of show them

and point to the picture so that way they see, Okay, that's right, I can go to my cozy corner, I can calm down or oh I can use my breathing ball to help. Um and you've you've taught those skills in advance. But taking that That zones of regulation, for example, connecting it to a sensory strategy has been really helpful too.

Yep, that's I feel feel like that's the ultimate goal with the emotional intelligence programs. I mean, think about us as adults, you know. That's what we do. Mm. We are feeling overwhelmed, so we take a sensory break, we goes down the vibe plates, we take our deep breaths, we write our to do list down.

And I mean that's what we that's what we should be doing as well as adults. So teaching it to our children. Um finally the favorite visual supports free emotional regulation. I've said it at least ten times this conversation but the zones of regulation it's my all-time favorite. Uh how does your engine run? The alert program is also a really good one. I think that's one's really good for kids with ADHD and sensory seekers.

But I love the zones because it's so simple and easy and most kids, most even young kids, understand the color system because they see the stoplights. when their parents are driving so they know what the stoplight means and so it's just such an easy visual to use. Yeah. A couple more that we found, there's um a website, Instagram called SoloBoys. So lobo. And they have um this bag of

balls basically and it's called emotional baggage. Which is quite funny. So funny. And like all the little balls, like they're plush balls and they all have like different facial expressions and you know, they're all different colors and the same website they have other like emotion characters and like little um manipulatives and I just I am just so drawn to those.

Um the just right program is another great one because it teaches sensory modulation. It kind of uses that speedometer example of, oh, if your body's going too slow, here's a strategy. If you have, if it's going too fast, here's a strategy. Oh, the ultimate goal is just right. So we love that one too. Mm-hmm. Um Brainworks is another visual program too that has sensory integration activities.

um with a different arrow program of, you know, meeting the threshold, doing those green activities to wake the body up, doing those yellow just right activities, and then doing those red slow down, calm down activities. And that one coordinates with

The Just Right program as well. Oh, the Unthinkables. That one's not necessarily like an emotional regulation. It's more of like a social curriculum, but I love that one because it's kinda geared towards our older kiddos and they're able to identify these different Like unthinkables or un you know, characters invade their brain and it takes the blame off of them being naughty and always making

you know, bad decisions and it's like, no, this the, you know, rock brain invaded my brain and he made me get stuck on my own idea. And so we need to inv we need to beat rock brain and it's kind of a superhero theme. Yeah, and there's a series of books too. So you've got the the visuals, the pictures, the the handouts, the games, apps, I think. Maybe I'm sure there are. Yes. Uh last one here would be breathing visuals.

So I mean there's a ton you could make your own, but there are a ton that you can get online. There's the five finger breathing visual, there's the lazy eight breathing visual. Um at the clinic we actually have these like handheld boards. that it's almost like a 3D maze that you can like run your finger through these different shapes. So it's tactile. And it's visual to help with that breathing, deep breathing. And then the last one here is shop gifts of joy. We interviewed.

um, the creator of Gifts of Joy and they have a ton of really great visuals for emotional intelligence. I also like the visuals for the size of the problem. So how big is my problem? Do I have a big problem? Do I have a little problem? And then what do I need to do if what should my reaction look like? How do I match? How does my reaction match the size of the problem? So Yep. Visual tools, visual supports, just so essential I think in teaching our kids

life skills really, I think. And you know, we were talking about this I think before we hit record, but we were talking about all of our COVID babies who are, you know, either starting kindergarten or they're going to start kindergarten next year. And I feel like this is

a big part of my personal caseload of kids who are struggling with emotional regulation and, you know, sensory processing and, you know, just kinda kids who are just stuck in that fight or flight state, I think, from the constant all around us and all around them too. So, um, I think this is really impactful for those

you know, four, five, six year olds too to really get them off to a good start with kindergarten, first grade. Yep, for sure. So if this was helpful, let us know. You can take a screenshot of this episode and share it on social media, tag us at All Things Sensory Podcast. Make sure you're subscribed wherever it is that you listen or watch us. Share this with a friend. We appreciate it. We appreciate you being here and we'll plan on seeing you here for another episode next week. Okay bye.

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