Visual Support for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Combining their years of experience working with individuals on the autism spectrum, both here and around the world, authors Vera Bernard-Opitz and Anne Häußler bring teachers and other professionals practical ideas and teaching methods for offering visual supports to students with autism spectrum disorders and other visual learners. With hundreds of colorful illustrations and step-by-step directions, this book lays the foundation for how to structure teaching environments, as well as offers countless examples of activities for students, ranging from basic skills, to reading and math, to social behavior.

Vera Bernard-Opitz, Ph.D., has worked as a clinical psychologist, associate professor, and behavior therapist (BCBA-D) in rehabilitation centers, schools, universities, and autism centers in the United States, Singapore, and Germany. She combines her background in applied research with a passion to find individual treatment solutions based on best practice methods. For more than 15 years, she has coordinated the STEP Program in Singapore, which formed the basis for the STeP curriculum (Structured and Experience-Based Program). This program matches the main intervention methods (ABA, precision teaching, experience-based learning, and visual support) to the characteristics of children with ASD. The STeP curriculum is available in three languages. Vera also is the long-time editor of the Autism News of Singapore and the Autism News of Orange County & the Rest of the World. She currently works as an international consultant helping families, home teams, and autism centers through tele-consultation and workshops. In addition, she is supervisor for ABA teams in Southern California, reviewer for the main autism journals, and last but not least mother of two teenagers. Anne Häußler, Ph.D., holds a graduate degree in special education from the German Philipps-Universität Marburg. She received her master s and Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in collaboration with the TEACCH program. As a professional, she spent two years at a regional TEACCH Center in North Carolina receiving extensive training in the TEACCH approach. After returning to Germany, she worked as a therapist in an autism treatment center. Through lectures, workshops, and numerous publications, Anne has played a key role in disseminating knowledge about TEACCH in Germany. She has developed a social skills program based on the TEACCH approach and published a book on her social skills program as well as a fundamental book on the TEACCH approach in general. In addition to working nationally and internationally as a consultant, lecturer, and trainer, Anne is co-founder and acting director of a TEACCH-based autism treatment center in Mainz, Germany.