A child with autism does not always understand how to express his discomfort, anxiety or frustration. As a result, he tends to express his restlessness by becoming agitated or by displaying challenging and sometimes violent behaviors. Through the use of visual systems a child can be taught to convey his discomfort or his need for a break.


Create symbols that can help the child convey that he is done with a task. This could be a symbol like a ‘thumbs up’ or a ‘tick mark’.
Create symbols that help the child express what he did that day. One of the characteristics of autistic children is that they find it extremely difficult to talk about things which have already happened or past events. So pictorial or visual representation could be helpful here too.
Some templates can be used for this purpose. The templates can carry pictures of some tasks and activities such as reading a book, playing outside, eating, soccer, swimming.
 Pictures can also be used to teach the child how to ask for help. Some cards which specifically imply a child needs help can be held by a child and raised for the teacher to see when they need help.


With time, they can be taught to do away with this practice and to raise their hand instead.
 Pictures and colors can also be used to create pictorial or visual calendars to help the child understand on what days he has school, on what days he does not, and to mark any upcoming events or any specific activities.


The calendar should be developed in such a manner that uses mostly symbolic representation. On the days when the child has school, a small image/photo/picture of the school could be put on the calendar, on days when the child has no school, a picture of house can be used, if the child has an activity like soccer to attend, then a picture of a small soccer ball could be drawn.
Color coding could also be used. On the days when there is school, those days on the calendar could be colored blue, when there is no school then it could be colored yellow. Then other colors can be used to represent other activities.
 Pictures and colors can do an amazing job of controlling challenging behaviors and correcting the negative behaviors of children with autism.


A picture of a red circle with a line passing through the circle indicates "no". This symbol can be used to let the child know that something - be it their behavior or their movement in a particular place - is not allowed. If a child needs to be prevented from leaving the classroom, then this symbol could be put on the door,
If certain behaviors are to be prevented, a chart or poster showing all the behaviors which are unacceptable with a universal "no" symbol beside each of them can be used. This can help them to understand that behaviors such as banging head, hitting others are not allowed

, Through visual aids, a child with autism could be trained to collaborate with the family members to function as normally as possible. At home for instance, the child could use visual aids such as pictures, drawings to cooperate with the other members in the family so daily communication becomes less complex. The child could be taught simple yet important tasks. For example, the child can learn how to set the table:


The places where the spoons, forks, knives, plates, cups and bowls are kept could be indicated by pasting/sticking a picture of that particular item over the shelf/drawer/cabinet. T
hose places could be further highlighted by giving a specific color to those items - say orange for bowls, yellow for cups, green for placemats. The child is then encouraged to pick the items accordingly.
 The child could also be taught to organize himself as well as his things. He could be encouraged to keep his things (books, stationery, toys, etc.) organized. A child with autism cannot successfully take oral instructions. He will not be able to follow if you tell him that his toys need to be stowed in a particular area or his books need to be arranged in the bookshelf. Too many oral instructions can muddle his mind and frustrate him. To overcome this:


Designated bins/racks/shelves/drawers/baskets could be provided. A picture of the item along with the name of the item could be prominently projected
To make them more distinct, colour coding could be followed. A card with the picture of the item in a color that is specific to the item could be pasted or hung.
The child will find it less complex to understand that all toys need to be placed in a bin, clothes in a particular rack, books in a particular shelf.
Help the child to communicate with you using visual representation of his thoughts.
Teach the child to ask for help using visual cues.
Create a schedule for the child with visual cues.
Reinforce and teach good behaviors with visual cues.
Use visual cues to help a child interact with family members in a home environment.
Create visual cues to help the child organize his things.
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