Evaluating visual activity schedules as evidence-based practice for individuals with autism spectrum disorders.
Visual activity schedules are now evidence-based for learners with autism—pair them with systematic instruction to teach skills across settings and ages.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Victoria and her team pulled every study they could find on visual activity schedules for people with autism. They found 31 papers written between 1993 and 2013.
They only kept studies that used pictures, photos, or icons to show the order of tasks. Each study also had to teach the learner how to follow the schedule, not just hand it over.
What they found
The stack of 31 studies was big enough and strong enough to call visual activity schedules an evidence-based practice for autism.
The schedules worked for toddlers through adults, at home, in class, and on job sites, but only when teachers also used systematic instruction like prompting and fading.
How this fits with other research
Pilgrim et al. (2000) and O'Reilly et al. (2005) are inside the new review. Their early single-case tests showed the same thing: schedules plus prompting cut problem behavior and raised on-task time.
Sances et al. (2019) came later and pushes the idea further. They showed one adult with autism used a schedule to run a beekeeping job almost solo, proving the tool is not just for kids or classrooms.
Zimbelman et al. (2007) sits in the mix too. Their PE teachers used visual schedules for students with broader developmental delays, matching the review’s wide age and setting span.
Why it matters
You no longer need to pilot visual activity schedules to see if they work; the evidence is in. Grab any ready-made picture strip, add prompt fading and reinforcement, and start teaching new routines today. The review says you can trust the tool for play sequences, job tasks, or daily living skills across any learner with autism.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Tape a three-step picture strip to the desk, teach the learner to point to each image before starting the task, and fade your prompts across trials.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
A comprehensive review of the literature was conducted for articles published between 1993 and 2013 to evaluate the quality of the Visual Activity Schedules (VAS) literature using current evidence-based criteria developed by Horner et al. (Except Child 71:165-179, 2005). Authors sought to determine whether VAS can be considered an evidence-based practice by expanding on the findings from previous reviews. A total of 31 studies met inclusion criteria for the use of VAS to various behaviors to students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Of these studies, 16 met criteria for acceptable quality. Results suggest that VAS can be considered an EBP for individuals with ASD, especially when used in combination with systematic instructional procedures. VAS can be used to increase, maintain, and generalize a range of skills of individuals from preschool through adulthood in a variety of settings (e.g., general education, community). Implications for practitioners using VAS, limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2015 · doi:10.1007/s10803-014-2201-z