Friday, October 31, 2008

Picture Resources

Several participants from the summer TEACCH training have asked for assistance in finding pictures for use with their students. What are some options for using pictures for schedules and worksystems?
Boardmaker by Mayer-Johnson, www.mayer-johnson.com, is used in most settings and is convenient and versatile. At the same time, not every school has easy access to it, and not every student will be best matched to their picture-symbol format. There are a range of alternatives, both free and for purchase, that might also be considered when looking to develop visual materials. What is most important is finding a good match, and having access to materials quickly and efficiently so that visuals can be up and running to support students who need them. When making supports is efficient and easily-done, it is much more likely that the materials will be adapted to best fit student need, and that they will be dynamic and changing as the child learns and grows.

A beginning place for young children is the use of objects that can represent various activities. Some examples are using toy keys or a toy car to indicate time to go out for a ride/ errand; a spoon or small cup to represent mealtime; a block or small book to represent teaching time. Many programs have these materials already--all that is needed is a matching pair to set up a starter schedule.

Photographs are another quick resource for visual supports. There are good options on both Mac and Windows platforms to print pictures in a variety of sizes, to best suit the visual needs of the child. Just be sure to save the photos in a file as often the visuals get lost and extra copies come in handy.

Another sources for real objects is google images. It is easy to find anything from a movie cover for Finding Nemo to a photo of an oreo snack pack. Once you have assembled your images onto a word-processing or photo-editing program, be sure to save them to avoid having to re-locate them in the future.

http://www.usevisualstrategies.com/pictures.html has a number of pictures that are suitable for older students and adults. There are a number of free pictures as well as picture sequences.

Dkimages.com is a commercial photo site. Readers might be famiiar with their images in many children's books about objects in our world. In response to an inquiry, DK images allowed this user to print their low-resolution images free of charge as they were being used for individual students and not for commercial purposes. People who like their images might consider contacting the company to inform them of the intended purpose. Keep in mind this site produces images for a wide range of commercial applications so there are some unusual as well as ordinary entries, but all are beautifully clear and crisp.

Another resource that has a number of free pictures, as well as options available for purchase, is Do2Learn.com. Under their "Free Area" are a number of pictures and schedules that can be printed off. These are black-and-white clear line drawings and can be obtained with or without text. These drawings are appealing and clear.

Classroomclipart.com is a free source (requires a registration) that includes topics including animals, foods, sports, healthcare,and many other topics. These are largely photographs as well as some more stylized cartoons and may be more useful for making materials than for visual supports. The healthcare ones in particular may be helpful for medical appointments and actions (e.g., in creating a visual of the steps that will happen in a medical appointment and when it will end).

The Internet Picture Dictionary at http://pdictionary.com/ is an indexed source for simple colored drawings of various common items.

There is a nice sheet of free samples on the Pyramid Educational Products page that has great pictures of several common recreation/ leisure items and worth a look at http://www.pyramidproducts.com/PicsforPECS2008Sample.pdf.

And don't forget the easy resource for any computer with Microsoft word and a connection to the internet: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/default.aspx. There are a range of adequate-to-good images that might fill the need.

Do be aware of copyright and fair-use laws and use the materials only for single students and never for resale. I am sure that these are only a few of the many options out there. Any feedback or other resources would be very welcomed and added to this post.