What Are Visual Supports and How Can They Help Children?

What are visual supports?

Visual supports are tools that use pictures, symbols, words or other visual cues to make information easier to understand.

For children, they can help turn something that feels unclear or overwhelming into something they can see, follow and refer back to.

Think about how often we rely on visual information as adults — calendars, maps, checklists, reminders and step-by-step instructions. Visual supports work on a similar idea. Instead of relying only on spoken instructions, they provide information in a form that stays visible.

Why can visual supports be helpful?

Every child processes information differently. For some children, verbal instructions can be difficult to remember, particularly when there are multiple steps involved.

A visual support can make those expectations more concrete.

For example, instead of repeatedly saying:

“Get dressed, brush your teeth, pack your bag and put your shoes on.”

A child could see each part of the routine represented visually and work through the steps one at a time.

Visual supports may help children:

• understand what is happening now and what comes next
• break larger tasks into smaller, more manageable steps
• follow everyday routines with less verbal prompting
• practise sequencing and organisation
• participate more independently in familiar tasks
• build confidence as routines become more predictable

What can visual supports look like?

There isn't one single way to use visual supports.

They might include a visual schedule showing the order of a child's day, a checklist for getting ready in the morning, pictures showing the steps involved in brushing teeth, or an activity that helps a child practise an everyday skill.

The best type of support will depend on the individual child, the skill being practised and the situation in which it is being used.

Using visual supports for everyday routines

Everyday routines are a great place to introduce visual supports because they often involve several small steps.

Getting ready for school, packing a school bag, getting dressed and preparing for bed might feel automatic to an adult. For a child who is still learning these skills, however, remembering what to do — and in what order — can be a lot.

Breaking a routine into clear visual steps gives the child something they can return to throughout the task.

Over time, the goal isn't necessarily to complete a routine perfectly or independently straight away. It's to give children opportunities to understand, practise and participate in everyday tasks in a way that works for them.

Visual supports aren't only for one type of child

Visual supports are commonly used with children who benefit from additional structure or visual guidance, including some autistic children, children with ADHD, developmental differences or other individual learning needs.

But a child doesn't need a diagnosis to benefit from seeing information clearly.

Visual supports can simply be another way of communicating, teaching and making everyday expectations easier to understand.

Making visual supports work for your child

There is no perfect visual routine that will work for every family.

Start small. Choose one routine or task that your child is learning and introduce a few clear steps. Give them time to become familiar with the visuals and, where appropriate, involve them in using or checking off each step.

Most importantly, adapt the support to the child in front of you.

At Neuroscribbles, our visual support books are designed around that same idea: making everyday routines and skills easier to see, follow and practise. Through colourful visuals, step-by-step activities and familiar everyday tasks, our resources are designed to support children as they build skills, confidence and greater independence in their own time.