Page 32 - Lifeskills Lesson Plans Volume 1 Digital Version

P. 32

5. Create a Visual Schedule

Crea ng a visual schedule enables the students to
follow the progression of your session and enables
you to plan eﬀec vely. With a li8le work at the

beginning, you can create a schedule that can be
reused throughout the year. We use the same
icons across all of our units to symbolize the
diﬀerent types of ac vi es, which cuts down on the
amount of work we do and increases the students’

familiarity and expecta ons for each ac vity.

How to make a visual schedule
Copy, cut out, and laminate the following page.

You can make more visual schedules if you want
each student to have his own schedule. Create a
ver cal or horizontal wall chart or a ﬂip book.
Mount Velcro on the back of each picture to be
arranged on your visual schedule board. These

pictures can also be used as icons in an augmenta ve communica on device.

How to use a visual schedule

Choose the ac vi es that you are going to do that day. Note: do not try to do everything on the
schedule! A typical session has the same intro and wrap-up, and 2-3 ac vi es in between.

Here are some excellent ways to adapt the visual schedule:

 Empower your students by leAng them choose what they would like to do that day. ATer a while,
students will develop favorites and they can choose one out of the two or three ac vi es that you

would like to plan for the following schedule.

 Use the visual schedule for ini a on and comple on. Before a student starts an ac vity they add
it to the visual schedule. ATer a student ﬁnishes an ac vity, they remove the icon from the
schedule. This teaches progress, mo vates them to keep going, and lets them know that the end
is in sight.

 Create a separate visual schedule for their classroom and have the teacher create icons that
represent the ac vi es that make up the rest of the student’s day.

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