Visual Schedules and Autism Ranking:

Current Research

We have identified more than 20 studies* of visual schedules as an intervention for autistic individuals published in English language, peer-reviewed journals. These studies included more than 100 participants aged from three years old to adult but the majority of studies looked at children.

Some of the visual schedules were created by academic researchers, some by teachers and some by parents. Some were presented as line drawings, some were presented as photos, some were presented as videos, and some were presented in multi-media formats via electronic devices.

The studies were conducted in a variety of locations including schools, clinics and family homes although most were conducted in schools.

Most of the studies looked at visual schedules as standalone interventions, while a small number of the studies looked at visual schedules combined with other interventions (such as graduated guidance) or compared visual schedules with other interventions (such as video modelling).

• Some of the studies (such as Newman et al, 1995) reported improvements in dealing with transitions in the participants.
• Some of the studies (such as MacDuff et al, 1993) reported improvements in complying with tasks or in trying out new tasks in the participants.
• Some of the studies (such as Mechling and Savidge (2011) reported improvements in adaptive skills (such as cooking) in the participants, although another study (Mechling and Gustafson, 2008) reported mixed results when trying to teach cooking skills.
• Some of the studies (such Breslin and Rudisill, 2011) reported improvements in motor skills in the participants.
• Some of the studies (such as Krantz et al, 1993) reported improvements in a wide range of areas (such as increases in children's engagement and social initiations and decreases in disruptive behavior).

*Please note:

• Because there are so many studies on this topic we have not included those studies with fewer than three participants in this section. However, you can find details of some of those studies, and other publications on visual schedules, in our publications database.
• We have not included studies where visual schedules were one component of multi-component interventions such as TEACCH.

Updated

17 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Nov 2017

Next Review

01 Feb 2024