The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

Start the school year by involving parents in a strong school to home connection program by using effective visual supports that benefit individuals with autism in both settings. Research shows that students with autism are more successful with goal achievement when there is consistency between school and home. This session explores a variety of visual support activities, implementation strategies, and resources that support individuals with autism in achieving their academic, behavior, and communication goals at school and at home. Research shows that students with Autism are more successful with goal achievement when there is consistency between school and home. The presentation begins by discussing the research behind the effectiveness of the school and home connection along with some anecdotal reports from parents. The presentation then leads the participants in to a discussion about effective use of visual supports at school and home through the demonstration of visual support activities that are applicable to the educational domains that crossover between both settings; academics, behavior, and communication. Examples include research-based print and interactive, on-screen visual support formats such as schedules, calendars, dictionaries, procedural checklist, Social Stories™, and video self modeling exercises that can be applied to both school and home settings. Different resources that are offered by the Boardmaker Software Family to enable and support the connection between these two settings are then explored. These include the free visual support activity sharing website BoardmakerShare.com, the accessible Boardmaker Plus Player and Boardmaker Studio Player which both enable interactive, on-screen activities to be used at school and home,  and the Mobile Activity Player which can be sent between  school and home to support consistency of activity usage. The presentation wraps up by leading the participants through the steps of creating a School to Home Connection Set-up that supports the use of visual support activities that benefit individuals with Autism in the settings of school and home. Handouts such as letter to parents, checklists, and information sheets to support the set up of this school to home connection are provided.

The strategies discussed in this presentation can be immediately applied within both settings. By the end of the session, participants will acquire an understanding of the importance of a school to home connection; identify visual supports that can be used at both school and home to create a practical, effective and consistent system for their student or client; and acquire information on resources that will help maintain and foster sharing of information and activities between the IEP team and home. Through starting off the school year by involving parents in a strong school to home connection program that supports consistency of effective visual supports between both settings, individuals with Autism are more successful with goal achievement in both settings.

This session explores a variety of visual support activities, implementation strategies, and resources that support individuals with Autism in achieving their academic, behavior, and communication goals at school and at home through the school –home connection. Students with Autism, their parents/guardians, and the service providers (teachers)all benefit from working together in the planning, creation, and implementation of research-based visual supports.  Equipped with this information, participants will be able to start planning the implementation or incorporation of the ideas, strategies, and resources acquired from this presentation in to their communication for the upcoming school year with the parents of their students with Autism. This effort, in turn, will enable service providers, teachers, and parents to provide more effective tools for their students to achieve their academic, behavioral, and academic goals at school and at home in the current or upcoming school year.

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