ABA and Teaching Calendar Time Concepts

When children enter preschool, they start to learn many fundamentals that serve as the building blocks for future education and skills. This includes learning letters, numbers, days of the week and time.

All of this basic knowledge leads to more complex skills, such as reading, math and more. Calendar and time skills lead to important practical skills such as time management and planning, which is why they’re so crucial for children to learn.

Teaching these skills to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be a challenge, though, as they require a different approach than is usually followed for neurotypical children.

In this article, we’ll discuss how applied behavior analysis (ABA therapy) teaches calendar time concepts to children with autism.

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Why Are Calendar Time Skills Important?

Calendar time skills are important for everyone to learn, regardless of their developmental abilities. They lead to the further understanding of planning, sequencing events and time management.

In many ways, calendar time skills are critical to navigating daily life — whether it be keeping on track with schedules, planning future events and succeeding at work.

Children with autism need to master these skills because they can provide them with a routine and structure. They often thrive when these have been established, as they’re able to predict what’s about to come.

This is why calendar time skills are so important in their development and learning.

How Can ABA Therapy Teach Calendar Time Skills to Children with ASD?

ABA therapists can teach calendar time skills to children with ASD by following many of the fundamental concepts, principles and strategies of the treatment. This includes providing additional sensory support to the lessons, whether it comes in the form of visual, auditory or tactile aids, for example.

Here are some examples of how each type of support can be integrated into ABA therapy lessons.

Visual Aids

Children with autism are commonly considered visual learners. This means they benefit greatly from having visual aids accompany spoken or written words, as it helps the concepts “stick” more.

Visual aids can be easy to implement when teaching calendar time skills.

Visual calendars, for example, are a great way to teach days, weeks, months and years. They can also be used to break down schedules within a day, with different activities assigned to different times.

These calendars can help children with autism understand what’s coming up later in the day, week or month — all of which helps them understand the concept of time passage.

You can even color code different things on the calendar — either each day with a different color or each event within a day a different color, for instance. Highlighting special events or days can also help them get excited for what’s coming, such as special holidays.

Visual timers on clocks can also help them understand the concept of time and how much time is left on a current activity.

Auditory Aids

Music can be a great way to teach concepts to children. Songs that discuss the days of the week or the months can get children to understand the names of the days and months.

The auditory aids can help to reinforce not just their names but also their sequence, which are both important for understanding planning and the passage of time.

At the beginning of ABA therapy sessions, therapists can start with a form of morning announcements, which could include telling them the name of the day, the date, the time and a preview of what’s to come that day.

Tactile Aids

Tactile aids involve things the children can physically touch and interact with. This sensory experience can be very effective for children with autism.

This could include a calendar that has raised textures, letters and numbers for every day. Children can physically interact with the calendar, which can help them to establish a connection between calendar time concepts and a sensory experience.

There are also Velcro calendars that have separate pieces for events, months and days, which children can then attach to the calendar and detach. Hands-on activities like these are great ways to help children enhance understanding of some of the basic calendar concepts.

Blue Gems ABA Teaches Children Fundamental Concepts

ABA therapy strategies can be very effective at teaching children with autism calendar time concepts, especially when sensory aids are used. By following these principles and incorporating positive reinforcement into the treatment plan, children with ASD can more effectively learn these important concepts.

At Blue Gems ABA, our experienced team of therapists crafts individualized treatment plans that are catered to each individual’s specific challenges, strengths and preferences. In this way, we are able to administer ABA therapy in a very effective way.

To learn more, please contact us today.