photo from pickturethat.com

I love to learn about new products and services, and share them with you. Today, I want to tell you about a really great bracelet that can be adapted for use in school or in church for kids with disabilities.

A company called Pickture That sells personalized photo bracelets.  Buyers upload three to four photos, crop them and choose between three color styles…and voila! A lovely, one-of-a-kind bracelet is created!

While these are great for new moms or

Photo from pickturethat.com

sorority pledges, they can also be wonderful transitional objects for students with disabilities. Many children with special needs struggle with separation anxiety. Sometimes, a special object from home can help to soothe this worry by allowing children to have a tangible reminder of their parent or caregiver. These bracelets could work very well for this purpose.

These bracelets could also be used as a visual schedule or a reminder of expectations. For example, the bracelet might show three or four pictures of the child working on various activities and showing appropriate behavior. Teachers and parents can review the expectations by showing the child each of the pictures, and they can redirect a child’s off-task behavior unobtrusively by simply tapping or pointing to the bracelet. Any image can be uploaded to create these bracelets; if a child responds better to words or icons, those can be uploaded as well, as long as they are in a jpeg, png or gif format.

Some things to consider…
These bracelets currently come in only one size, so they may be large for younger children. As a result, they may need to be worn higher on the arm or over a sleeve. Obviously, students with sensory sensitivities may not like the feeling of the bracelet on their skin, and, for some children, the bracelet might become more of a distraction than a comfort. As with any tool, it will be important to explicitly teach children how to use the bracelet appropriately.

Finally, any tool, including these bracelets, can be stigmatizing. To avoid this, teachers and volunteers…and students themselves…should be ready for questions from typically developing peers. When a child asks, “How come Jacob wears that bracelet?” a teacher can respond, “That helps him remember what we do in our class. We all have our own ways to remember the rules. What helps you remember?” Remaining neutral and matter-of-fact helps students recognize that they have more in common than they might realize!

For more information on creating and ordering bracelets, please visit the Pickture That website.

Please note: this is not a paid endorsement…just a “hey look at that!” from me to you. 🙂