Visual Support for Vocabulary Acquisition in Autism

Autistic children as visual learners
The works of Dr. Temple Grandin have taught the world that most people with autism are visual thinkers. Rather than thinking in words, most autistic people perceive the world in pictures. Dr. Grandin describes not a one to one ratio of pictures to concepts, but rather a word summoning up a whole slide show of very precise images. These pictures can be thought of as the native vocabulary of an autistic person who thinks in pictures.

If pictures are the basis of an autistic student's native language, the spoken and written word would actually be a second language in which he can learn to function the same way a native speaker of English can learn to speak French or Spanish. This analogy can be helpful when approaching the task of introducing new vocabulary to a student on the autism spectrum.

Selecting new vocabulary to teach
One of the most frequent suggestions in teaching children is to use visual supports like pictograms. This is a great idea, in general, but vocabulary will likely need to be hand picked for an autism student. Many teachers will fall back on using a worksheet, vocabulary list, or set of flashcards intended for younger students. This would be a mistake, as educational materials for young children are made with an assumption that they have already mastered words and concepts in spoken English. Exercises intended to teach a child to read and write an already familiar word do not necessarily serve to introduce unfamiliar vocabulary.

The best approach to selecting vocabulary for an autistic child who has limited verbal skills is to choose words that are relevant to her life. Start with a small grouping of words that can be used in real life situations. Repetition is very important to all children in language acquisition, but most especially to autistic students whose communication skills are limited. Using the vocabulary words in the classroom and at home reinforces the learning process.

Clear images with labels printed directly on them do help, and using the same vocabulary at both home and school is important too. For example, if the child uses "Mama" and "Daddy" at home, it is best not to introduce "Mother" and "Father" at school. Similarly, beginning with actual photos of familiar people, places and items is superior to using fuzzy black and white photocopies of colour illustrations from a book.

Teachers may want to avoid grouping similar concepts together when they are first introduced. Just like a toddler first learning English, or like a person learning a second language in an immersion environment, the autistic child's understanding of a concept can be a little vague initially. While the typical first grader has a clear idea of the difference between snow, snowflakes, and a snowball, the autistic student may struggle at first to see why three different words are used for closely related concepts. Similarly, introducing toes, ankle, heel and foot all at the same time would not necessarily be a good strategy for teaching vocabulary to a student with autism. These words may have to be introduced separately over a number of lessons.

Memorization is not language acquisition
Please remember that memorization is not the same as fluency. Our experience is that autistic children tend to be excellent at rote memorization. Doing the same exercise, the same way, with the same materials over and over again is familiar and comforting. An autistic student may master a worksheet or group of flash cards very quickly, but fail to show true acquisition of the target vocabulary in practical situations. When this happens, it's time to mix things up! Use a new image for a word that has been mastered, and think about building a picture lexicon that includes all the different images the child associates with the vocabulary he is learning. Be sure the order of words is mixed up when creating worksheets, doing dictation exercises or using flashcards. Try taking away the labels and just asking the student to name the word from the representative pictogram or image. Try matching games with separate cards for the images and words. Show the child a picture depicting a scene that uses the vocabulary, and ask him to answer simple questions like, "Who is making a snowman?"

Temple Grandin tells a story about a young autistic child who will use the toilet at home, but not at school. The toilet seat at home is black, but the one at school is white. The autistic student associates the black seat with the toilet, and cannot recognize a toilet by its other features. He has to be taught that both toilets can be used for the same thing. Generalization is a large part of the work with autistic children. It is crucial to keep adding pictures to the verbal-visual lexicon the child is building, and to use new vocabulary words in a variety of different settings. This pays off by increasing fluency, and eventually allows for introduction of related words and concepts.

Teaching a child with autism really does mean adapting the curriculum. It is not sufficient to estimate an autistic student's ability level in equivalent school years, and to use materials intended for students in that grade. Especially when it comes to language and communication, teachers should remember that autistic people who think in pictures are learning what is essentially a foreign language. Strategies developed for younger, already fluent children will not address the unique needs of an autistic child, but simple adaptations do make it possible for her to make great academic progress over time.

Sources:
Temple Grandin, Ph.D., "Autism and Visual Thought" from Thinking in Pictures

Temple Grandin, Ph.D., "Teaching tips for children and adults with autism." Autism Research Institute