As a parent of a child on the autism spectrum, I have found myself in a unique situation. I realize that I am an equal partner of my son's IEP Team, but I have the opportunity to contribute to my child's in a way that most parents do not get. My son's first Special Education case manager moved out of state because her husband received a military transfer. His replacement case manager has been carrying the caseload of two people and did not have the time to create a visual schedule for my 5th-grade son. At first, it was a little intimidating, but once I got started, it was not as difficult as I anticipated.
I started with a binder and a set of plastic divider tabs. I took pictures of my son's classrooms and began organizing those images into a visual schedule to assist my pre-teen son in maneuvering his daily school schedule. I ordered a laminator, laminator sleeves, and a slide paper cutter before picking up some VELCRO® hook and loop strips. I used my color printer to print the images from my computer onto white cardstock. I trimmed each of the images to a standard size before laminating them. After trimming off the excess lamination from each image, I attached them to the plastic dividers with VELCRO strips.
If I can do this, YOU can, too! It was a humbling experience that I would gladly repeat to help any of my children or any student that I was assigned to help!!
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