April Autism Awareness Month Resources

April is Autism Awareness month. There’s a lot of uncertainty in the world right now. The past month has been very unsettling for everyone, especially my friends on the Autism Spectrum. Everyone’s schedules have drastically changed. Disruption of routines and schedules is particularly hard for those who thrive on routine, a key characteristic of individuals on the autism spectrum. I have found visual schedules very beneficial to help maintain predictability and a routine. Visual timers and social stories are also great ways to help with predictability. I’ve used these with many children, even young ones who are not on the spectrum. Everyone wants predictability in their routine. In this pandemic, I’ve found that even I crave routine and order in my day. So here are some examples of visuals and also some resources I came across that might be useful! Go to my blog for the links.

Two of the basic visuals I use quite often are a visual timer and a basic visual schedule like the example below. Here is the link to the visual timer you in the picture below, but any type of visual timer will be helpful. There are even free ones you can find online :