Teaching daily living skills to children with autism in unsupervised settings through pictorial self-management.

The team taught three children with autism to wash hands, pack a lunch, and get dressed.

Each child carried a small photo book. The pictures showed every step of the task.

No adult stood beside them. The kids checked the photos and marked each step done.

All three children learned the skills in a few days. They still did the tasks weeks later.

The kids also used the photo books in new rooms and with new materials.

Stereotypy dropped sharply while they followed the pictures.

Hong et al. (2015) later ruled that only video modeling is "evidence-based" for daily living skills. Their review included this 1994 paper, so the pictures count as promising but not yet proven.

Cohen et al. (1990) used adult-led prompting to teach the same skills. The 1994 study flips the work to the child with photos, giving the same gains with less staff time.

van Timmeren et al. (2016) swapped the photo book for iPhone videos. Teens with autism plus ID learned to start their own video clips, showing the idea still works when pictures move.

Looney et al. (2018) added a clicker and a reward schedule. One child cut body rocking in half while he counted his own behavior, proving the self-management trick also tamps down stereotypy.

You can hand a learner a picture strip today and step back. The child gains independence, you free up staff, and stereotypy drops at the same time. Start with one short routine, snap photos of each step, and let the learner check them off. If tablets are available, try short videos next; the research chain shows the concept holds across formats.