Conclusions

Conclusions Drawn from Pre, Mid and Post Surveys, Interviews, and Discussions with Participating Teachers 

The participant teachers in this study varied in their levels of teaching experience from teachers in their first five years to very experienced teachers.  The participating teachers were all reflective practitioners who had volunteered to participate (with administrator approval) and all held leadership positions in their schools/the teaching community such as serving as a Saskatchewan Teachers Federation Representative, or acting as a literacy or numeracy lead for their school.

Although in the pre-implementation survey, all participants reported using a high number of visual supports and strategies in their teaching, in the post-implementation surveys and interviews all of the participating teachers reported using even more visual supports - especially in the areas of literacy, mathematics and to teach expected behaviors.  Participating teachers cited having had the opportunity for professional sharing with other teachers teaching in the same grade range (at each of our three gatherings of study participants, I revealed photos of the visual supports and strategies in each classroom and teachers each could speak to how or why they had introduced and were using that support), having time to create or prepare (print/draw, cut, glue, laminate, velcro, compile) visual supports, having access to supplies to create the visual supports (laminating, velcro dots, card stock, photo albums, cutting boards, hooks, magnets, rings, binders).

All teachers felt that they learned to be intentional in their use and teaching of the visual supports in their rooms.  They cited talking through intentionality as a part of the professional development they received, as a part of collegial conversation with others in this project, being provided with a bank of visual supports and being provided with visual supports that they could alter and make their own as being keys to developing this mindset.

This study led to positive impact on teacher practice - teachers learned that there is more impact and use of a visual support when students help to create the visual support as a part of a class lesson/mini lesson.  They learned that beginning a school year with less on the walls and then posting visual supports as they were co-created and taught had power.  They learned that rearranging visuals within the classroom space has merit as it reminds students that the support is there.  They learned that direct teaching of how to use a visual support leads to increased use of that support.

Participating teachers and I entered this study knowing that there was a strong evidence base for use of visual supports for neurodivergent learners.  However, teachers saw positive impacts of their intentional use and teaching of visual supports not only for students with intensive supports/special needs or neurodivergent learners.  They also saw positive outcomes for neurodiverse groups of learners as a whole (all learners) in terms of independently following multiple step directions and in terms of referencing a visual support for help before approaching the teacher.  For their English as an Additional Language Learners, teachers noted increased confidence and comprehension when visual supports were explicitly taught and used.

In terms of the impact for adults working in and visiting the classrooms, teachers reported that the use of visual supports helped Educational Assistants and teachers to have a common language and understanding of expectations for tasks or for the classroom.  The use and direct teaching of visual supports helped support staff coming into classrooms understand expectations of assignments and also ensured that all staff members working in the classroom were more likely to use a common language.  This consistency had positive outcomes in terms of efficiency, reduced the amount of time adults needed to spend communicating to ensure consistent directions/expectations for learners and promoted the use of common language among adults.  Educational Assistants told me and reported to their teachers that this increased their confidence that they were providing adequate directions and support for activities and that when visual supports were present, they could reduce verbal prompting/explanation for learners.  Participating teachers reported that the use of clear visual supports allowed colleagues (like Learning Resource Teachers or administrators) to immediately see what was being worked on and learned when they entered a classroom.   And, an unexpected outcome of the increased use of visual supports, with intentional direct teaching was that, through the co-creation of visual supports, teachers saw an increased sense of community and common understanding in their classrooms. 

Interested in seeing mid-implementation findings? Click here.

Click this link to review all Data and Data Summaries.  

If you are a fellow researcher interested in seeing more about the data collection instruments and seeing the data, please reach out to Mary Barrow at powerofvisuals@outlook.com.

Video: Final Words from Participating Teachers

The Supporting Neurodiverse Learners by Using Visual Supports as a Tier 1 Intervention Study was funded by McDowell Foundation and was supported by Regina Public Schools.  For additional information, including findings and conclusions, please see Summary of Study Findings - Supporting Neurodiverse Learners by Using Visual Supports as a Tier 1 Intervention.