One of the struggles my children have always faced is in mastering multi-step tasks. Taking a bath can be very frustrating for them because of all the steps that must be completed in a particular order. Repeating verbal instructions does not help. They are visual thinkers and learners, which means they must see the action taking place or have a picture to look at as a reference point during the process. After nine years of struggling along with my children to develop independence in the bathroom, I decided to try what has been working in the classroom: a social story.

Social stories are pictures of an action followed by simple written instructions that allow autistic children to learn complex behaviors that typical people take for granted. I created a social story for bathing, put it together in a document with some photos I took in their bathroom, and uploaded the project to a cool website called Sticviews (www.sticviews.com).  In three easy steps, I created a vinyl cling that sticks to the shower wall without glue. It can be removed and replaced repeatedly without damage to the tile or the vinyl cling.

It has made a world of difference in my kids' ability to be independent in the bath tub.

You may order a copy of my own Bathing Sticview in the Gallery here. Or, go to www.stickviews.com and customize one for your little bathers.

Every small step they take today gets them closer to living independently ... some day.