Visual support cards your suggestions please

[claw3]

At the moment ds has 3 basic needs cards and he is getting very confused as to when and what he should use them for

Card with smiley face - when he needs help of any kind. Particularly if he is being hit, children are being nasty to him or he is feeling sad, lonely etc. (he is complaining of this frequently, but wont tell a teacher)

Elephant - permission to go inside at playtime, if things get too much for him.

Toilet - For when he soils himself and needs help with cleaning up and change of trousers.

He thinks smiley face is to ask for help with school work. Toilet is for when he needs to go a toilet (as oppose to when he has soiled) Elephant he knows this is for going inside, but thinks that you are not allowed.

I have a meeting with the school next week to see how the cards are working (i dont think he has used them at all).

He is very visual and i suspect the pictures are causing him the confusion for him. What would suggest the pictures are changed to, to make them more appropriate?

Would also add the school get very defensive if hitting is mentioned as this sort of things doesnt go on in school!

Also sad faces, instead of happy faces is viewed as being negative.

I can see that they may be confusing, my dd1 would be confused by the elephant, is there a reason why its a picture of an elephant and not a picture of the door to go inside?

I think it would be easier to introduce one card at a time and maybe make the pictures of something he links to going inside, needing to be changed and asking for help (maybe a picture of the teacher to ask for help, a picture of trousers for needing to be changed and a picture of the door or the class room to go inside.

Dd2 has just started to use happy and sad faces at nursery to let people know how she is feeling.

I think the school needs to be a little more helpful.

Thanks for replying. Apparently they asked my ds what he liked and he said 'elephants'.

During our last meeting i told them my ds is very visual and so did the OT, perhaps they didnt quite understand or see the connection.

I like the idea of a picture of his mentor or her room, this is who he is supposed to see when he goes inside, thanks.

I thought trousers would be more appropriate too.

Asking for help, could be a number of different people depending on whether its playtime etc. I might ask him to draw me a picture of what he thinks 'help' is.

what about a hand for help as in helping hand?

They don't sound very good, advice here sounds better. Smiley face for when he feels sad? Can't be sensible surely?

The smiley face and the elephant sound downright weird to me.

It soounds like a good example of people using visual support who don't really understand visual support.

There is onviously no clear connection between picture and target concept.

If his language is good enough to process you asking him what 'help' or so on looksl ik,e I'd go for his picture and photocopy and laminate it.

Elephant??
Elephant??

Linglette - The school are the 'think happy thoughts brigade' I feel like a Stepford Wife after our meetings and cant get fluffy bunnies out of my head for days

If i even so much as mention a sad face, it will start another debate about me saying his feelings should be validated and the school saying a sad face might encourage him to feel sad, whereas a smiley face is saying i am happy to be asking for help kinda thing!!

I asked him to draw me a picture of what someone would do to help someone and he drew a picture of a little girl with a cut knee and a bigger boy holding her hand.

Moondog - Im not buying anything

His language is good, but when asked the 'wh' words ie where, who, what, why he gets very confused, he cant recall names for example all girls are called 'Charlotte' if he doesnt know their name or he will talk about something that happened the day/week before, or go from one thing to another.

His teacher wrote in his home/school book, that ds claimed to have been hit, but when 'challenged' he said he wasnt. Challenged ffs, sounds like she got out her boxing gloves!

He shys away from all confrontation.

Thanks Sodit i will add hand to my list of suggestions. I doubt ds would get the 'helping hand' bit i might have to rephrase.

I can't bear all the cod psychology.
Often no more than a thinly veiled excuse to do nothing concrete that can be measured or defined.