Special-education teacher Angela Kulcsar uses laminated visual cards at eye level instead of verbal reminders to manage behavior in autism classrooms. When a student breaks a rule, she points to the card and waits 7-10 seconds for them to process. She reports this cuts behavior issues in half and reduces power struggles.
Have you ever felt like you're repeating the same expectations all day long? Quiet mouth. Keep your hands to yourself. Stay with your teachers. And by the end of the day, you're exhausted? Today I want to share one simple way I set expectations in my autism classroom without talking, and it has made a huge difference for both my students, me, and my staff. In my classroom, expectations are taught visually first. Not verbally. Instead of correcting students with words over and over, we use visual education supports that are always visible and always consistent. Okay, for example, when a student is using a loud voice, I don't say, "Quiet mouth, quiet mouth, quiet mouth, quiet mouth." I simply walk over, point to my visual that says "quiet mouth," and I wait at least 7 to 10 seconds. That pause is really important. It gives the student time to process without adding more language or pressure. What I found is that when expectations are visual, students don't feel corrected, they feel supported. The visual becomes the reminder, not me. I keep my visual expectations posted at student eye level, and we practice them when students are calm, not just when there's a problem. And I love to laminate all of my expectation visuals, and then I add a strip of magnet to the back so that they're easily removable. You could also use Velcro, whatever works for you in your classroom. When students are calm and at whole group, we practice things like, "What do ready hands look like?" "Show me a calm body." And that way, when I point to the visual later, it already has meaning. Students with autism also learn when reinforcement is present. So I like to remind my students that when we follow all of our expectations, at the end of the day we get treasure box. This approach reduces power struggles, it lowers my own stress, and helps my students feel more successful throughout the day. So if you're feeling worn out from repeating expectations all day long, or you feel like your students aren't getting it, try letting the visuals do the talking. Consistency over time is what makes this work, and it's okay if it doesn't feel perfect at first. Using visual expectations in your classroom is just one small piece of running a successful special education classroom. That's why I want you to check out my next video, which is all about how my students use their individual visual schedules.
