Findings

For neurodiverse students (both neuro-majority and neurodivergent learners) – Having visual supports available, and having use and value of the supports being explicitly taught resulted in:

Positive Outcomes for Neurodiverse Students (All Learners)

For neurodiverse students (both neuro-majority and neurodivergent learners) – Having visual supports available, and having use and value of the supports being explicitly taught resulted in:

Increase in student independence and problem-solving (reduction in individualized questions to teachers or individualized pre-teaching and re-teaching/individualized direction or individualized prompting given to students):
Increase in individual problem-solving abilities (as students could refer to the supports available in the classroom and use these to determine their next step in a multistep process or task, how to write a word/sound/letter/number/name/date, etc. without needing to ask an adult, how and to where they would be transitioning next, etc.)
Increase in peer prompting by referencing a fellow student who asked a question of a peer back to a visual support that would answer their question (supporting peers not only by telling the peer what was next but by reminding peers of how to use available tools in the classroom; supporting each other in problem-solving). For some anxious learners who may be more comfortable approaching a peer to pose questions, because peers referred them to visual supports, the questioner received a more thorough response and often knew what to do next when peers referred them back to a visual support (leading to some self-advocacy to ask questions of peers in the case of some anxious learners who may be reluctant to pose questions of peers). It should be noted that peer prompting was used within expected limits in classrooms, not as an additional expectation or burden on peer learners.
High degree of engagement when tasks were visual (or visual with movement, interaction, creative/ building/ making and/or physical component to the task and/or when paired with low floor high ceiling tasks (Liljedahl, https://www.gscsmath.ca/instruction/thinking-classroom, retrieved 2023). In one classroom, manipulating various representations of numbers 11-20 (bulletin board white board activity) led to a higher degree of engagement than time on classroom iPads for fellow learners during a stations rotation activity (see Numbers 11-20, from Observation 3).
High degrees of student pride in co-creation of visual supports in the classroom; Shifting of power dynamics in a classroom (through visual supports co-creation) allow not only for pride but for more student independence, contribution to visual supports used in classrooms, and successful peer prompting (a step toward decolonization)

High degrees of confidence in explaining the tools available in the classroom and how they can be used, especially when visuals have been co-constructed and/or explicitly taught to learners. This confidence suggests a reduction in anxiety/anxious feelings from learners in the classroom. (If a researcher is interested in collaborating on this topic, please reach out to Mary Barrow at powerofvisuals@outlook.com).

In relation to support for an English Language Learner:

When individualized communication (receptive and expressive) tools were created in one participating classroom for an English Language Learner, and the teacher modeled their use to communicate with the student, other students observed this and, without prompting, began to use those visual supports to also communicate with their peers. Once learners started to see the value and use of visual supports to communicate with their peer, and because they saw the teacher modeling this tool, they began to use available visual supports independently to communicate with their classmate.

Positive Outcomes for Teachers:

When teachers carefully considered what visuals were created/posted, co-created visuals with their students, critically considered what visuals were displayed and where they were placed in the room, and explicitly taught how and why the visuals are created/displayed, during the course of Supporting Neurodiverse Learners by Incorporating Visual Supports as a Tier 1 Intervention, the use of visual supports were shown (as benefits to teachers) to:

Reduce the pre-lesson preparation work of creating a visual to present to learners (as the visual will be co-created as a part of the lesson)
Reduce the financial cost to teachers who may be purchasing materials online or commercially made visual supports
Reduce the individualized prompting and pre-teaching, re-teaching required for learners to independently follow instructions or procedures. When individual learners were taught how to effectively, and individually engage with a support created for all learners in the class, fewer individualized supports needed to be created (reduction in preparation time); do note that the need for individualized supports was not completely alleviated. Supporting Neurodiverse Learners by Using Visual Supports as a Tier 1 Intervention, however, revealed that the need for individualization of visual supports can be reduced by encouraging neurodivergent learners/individual students to interact with whole class visual supports, by teaching the visual support explicitly, and/or by giving an individual student a role that promotes individualized interaction with the whole class visual supports and tools in the classroom.
Reduce planning time for when guest/substitute teachers enter the classroom - Visual supports give a strong understanding of student expectations and procedures used by the classroom teacher which reduces planning and descriptions that a classroom teacher must leave for a substitute.

Positive Outcomes for Other Adults Working in or Entering the Space:

Adults working in, supporting in, collaborating within, or visiting classrooms using visual supports as a Tier 1 strategy reported being able to enter the room, look at the visual materials the teacher was using to teach/were being created with learners, and feel confident that they understood student general expectations and the expectations of learners in the immediate moment. They easily understood the tools available with which to prompt a student. They understood the language the teacher was using to teach a concept so that they could easily learn.

Teachers regularly using Tier 1 visual supports can be assured that adults entering their rooms to support, to co-teach, or to observe will also have a strong sense of the vocabulary/terminology being used and taught in the room. Teachers can be assured that other adults will use consistent language when answering student questions, when giving instructions or individualized instructions, and that other adults have been given tools to help learners to be independent and to problem solve and so will not need to over-prompt learners. (The time to engage in and explain procedures or current tasks when another adult enters the room is reduced. If it is not possible for adults to talk to each other, in the moment, classroom teachers can be assured that other adults will have the information they need (because the students do).

Adults working within classrooms participating in this grant project reported noticing students independently referencing visual supports and felt that the presence of these materials was reducing the need for individualized repetition of directives and was increasing student independence. These individuals, like me, observed peers referring other peers to the visual supports available and found themselves providing less direct answers to student questions and directing students to find a tool in the room that could help them to solve their questions.

Although I did not get to talk with any guest/substitute teachers during this study, classroom teachers and support persons working in the classrooms reported that guest teachers could reference visual supports to ensure they were using the same procedures and vocabulary that the classroom teacher would have been using. Comments left on teacher lesson plans by guest teachers, who covered for grant participant teachers during my time with them, commented on the visuals available. Guest teachers mentioned that students knew how to use the visual supports and that they, as teachers, appreciated them because they understood clearly what to teach and how.

See also the handouts:

Positive Unanticipated or Collateral Gains/Learnings

Some additional findings over the course of this study included discovering the value of teachers of similar grade ranges having the chance for collegial collaboration and problem-solving, as well as the value of collegial sharing. Teachers participating in this study had three opportunities to “see” (through display of photos of the visual supports in each other’s classrooms) what other teachers were doing and using to support the teaching of curricular outcomes. This sharing was reported by all teachers in the study to be one of the most valuable aspects of participating in the study. This finding has implications for professional development opportunities offered to teachers by school divisions. It urges the inclusion of opportunities for grade alike/similar teachers from different schools (perhaps even different divisions) to spend time collaborating.

Investigating whether the same benefit of collegial collaboration is seen through virtual collaboration as the in-person discussion is another strong research topic and will be examined through feedback on this website and any where virtual professional development offerings hosted to share the findings of this research. Contents and visuals of each other’s classrooms were presented digitally during Supporting Neurodiverse Learners by Using Visual Supports as a Tier 1 Intervention with success, though there were in-person collaborative opportunities for participants in the original study as well. It should be noted that two teachers in this study worked in the same school, thus having the benefit of spending time in each other’s classrooms regularly. And, these two teachers reported supporting and giving feedback to each other in considering visuals use in their classrooms based on what they were learning over the course of the study.

Co-creation of visual supports began a shifting of power dynamics in a classroom to allow for more student independence, contribution to visual supports used in classrooms, and successful peer prompting (a step toward decolonization).

A Reminder to Consider Environmental Print:

When triangulated evidence was collected from students in the grant study classrooms, student interviews revealed that students were aware of environmental print in their classrooms and started to use all available visual supports for a variety of purposes, even if this was not the intent of the environmental print being posted. For example, nametags intended to help students know which locker was theirs were also used to write student names in writing tasks, or teacher labeling of months of the year on stored materials were used to write months in journaling/writing tasks.

Some Identified Barriers/Challenges:

The Continued Need for Some Individualized Visual Supports

Supporting Neurodiverse Learners by Using Visual Supports as a Tier 1 Intervention determined that even when teachers implement whole class visual supports, there is likely to still be a need for some individualized visual supports to be created and used with some individual learners in the classroom. Explicit teaching of how and why to use a visual support to the whole class, encouraging certain individual students who will benefit from individually interacting with a particular visual support (e.g. by showing the class where in the daily schedule the group is by moving an arrow/magnet/symbol indicating where in the schedule the class is, or by turning over or removing completed items in the schedule) does increase interaction with a whole class visual support for some individual learners. By individualizing ways in which individual learners interact with a whole class visual support, the need for individual visual supports can be reduced. Findings of this study were consistent, for individual learners, with statements within Kay, H. (March 2009). The Down Syndrome Centre of Dublin -Visual Supports for Children with Down Syndrome; Rutherford, M. et al. (August 26, 2019). Visual Supports at Home and in the Community for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Scoping Review. Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice. 2020 Feb;24(2):447-469; Simmons, K.D., Hinton, V., and Padgett, A. (April,2020). Using Visuals to Promote On-Task Behavior and Independence for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science. Vol 10, Number 4.)

Preparation Time and Material Resources

This includes time to access colleagues to debrief and collaboratively problem-solve around visual supports being implemented. If a teacher or a school intends to set a professional goal of increasing visual supports and/or using them with a high degree of intentionality and explicit teaching, there can be barriers. I wrote earlier on the value of co-creation of visual supports (see pp. 1-5 of the report document). The materials have been created to support students/schools/school administrators supporting teachers and teachers who wish to undertake adding/becoming more intentional in their use of visual supports. It is my hope that these resources, along with offering of the Visuals Bank where visuals can be easily adapted to the aesthetic of particular classrooms, alongside other supportive materials created during this project, supports virtual community where individual teachers can learn more about the utility of visual supports and will be empowered to begin using, or to refine use of, visual supports efficiently and effectively.

Click this link to review 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: Key Tips and Findings

Key Tips and Findings.mp4

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, please see Summary of Study Findings - Supporting Neurodiverse Learners by Using Visual Supports as a Tier 1 Intervention.

Page updated

Report abuse