When we try to achieve communication and language in non-verbal children, the use of images as visual support is a very effective tool, as well as imitation models, to ensure that children integrate and begin to develop basic communication skills. Visual support is used so that the child integrates the information that we reinforce verbally. I will give you a few examples of how to carry out this work with 5 different proposals:

1. Visual aids: “My favorite things”

It is very important to start with what is closest to the child, with what catches his or her attention. We return again to the topic of motivation, so we are going to design a communication board called “My favorite things” with your 3, 4 or 5 favorite things. We start with that bond with him, which includes known, favorite, recognizable and desirable objects. With this ceiling, which is usually placed on a laminated cardboard with Velcro to be able to play with the images, we can start with:

· Make exchanges between the photo and the object

· Try skills such as signaling , giving him all the help he needs because those imitation models will mean that tomorrow he will be able to do it alone or with as little help as possible.

· Work on the association with two identical images of those objects, with similar or very different images, but always being the same object. This will mean that, even if our child is in the same environment as his favorite objects, he will work transversally on discrimination , association and categorization skills.

Whenever we work on these types of activities we must verbally reinforce by saying the name of the objects. Before verbal expression there is the reception of the verbal message, that is, the comprehension ability of language, and that is where we have to begin to make sure what is understood and what is not, in order to subsequently work and feed verbal development.

• 2. Visual supports: “My schedule”

A further step along this line would be, for example, making a schedule through images. We will start as always with something simple and recognizable, such as choosing 4 or 5 images per day: from school, from home, a photo of him playing in the afternoon at home, a photo of his therapist, a photo of him having dinner or going to the bed. Using real photos of yourself will help better internalize these communication panels.

You will see that after reviewing these routines before starting the day and/or when we finish them, there are moments of attention, preferences and connections, beginning to see links of communication thanks to the use of the image as visual support.

• 3. Support: “People around me or My family”

Another idea for a communication ceiling could be the people around me or my family. If we intend to work on communication and socialization we have to prioritize the people around us. Take photos of all the important people who are in direct contact with the child and, little by little, you will be able to integrate these people into your own schedule: mom, dad, siblings, grandparents, the teacher and the therapist.

• 4. Visual supports: “ My behaviors/My emotions”

Another communication ceiling idea has a behavioral and emotional base , with the aim of reinforcing all the things it does well and trying to reduce or eliminate those that do not go so well. It can be very useful to develop a communication board for appropriate and inappropriate behaviors, to be able to work on all these behaviors, not only when they occur, but afterwards (especially for inappropriate behaviors).

In the moments when he is receptive, like telling him a story, we can see photos of children doing super well and thus show him what we expect from him, what is going to make him happiest and show him the path to social integration, respect to others, affection and all these positive actions that enrich our lives. Photos hugging him, making him laugh, sharing things, giving him his favorite things, etc.

Do not try to tackle all these activities at the same time, choose the one that intuitively makes you feel that it may be the right one for your child, due to his preferences, his abilities, his evolutionary moment or the most immediate. Try to find the strategy so that this activity works and can be transferable to many other activities.

All of these visual tools will give us the opportunity to anticipate , a very important concept to keep in mind when we are helping non-verbal children who are clearly disoriented and need to know what is going to come next. With these tools we give them the opportunity to anticipate an activity or a sequence of activities, which will help them be more emotionally serene. Furthermore, after systematic work, these tools become bridges that the child himself can use to develop his communication functionally.

Visual aids: PECS: Alternative Communication System

We mention here what is called PECS or Image Exchange Augmentative Communication System, of which there are many beliefs that its implementation delays the development of verbal language. I greatly respect the beliefs of all the people in this field, but I am sorry to unblock this myth, because everything that happens in children who implement this communication system is a lack of it: non-verbal children who require everything that is necessary to Promote this skill successfully for your own mental and emotional health.

The first thing for non-verbal children is to create that need, that channel of communication and then redirect it towards verbal and expressive language. The priority of communication is undeniable, so we cannot leave our children without this tool. If a child has the capacity for language, he or she will not lose it by using PECS, signs or another alternative communication system.

We hope that it has been useful for you to know the use of the image as a visual support.