5 Tips To Help Children With Transitioning

08/25/2016

Many children have difficulty transitioning between activities, routines or events. Children can struggle with transitions whether they are small daily events (e.g. from a preferred activity to a less preferred activity) or larger transitions (moving, changing schools etc.) Here are some tools and techniques to help children transition more appropriately, independently and consistently.

1. Use concrete language and simple sentences to explain what is going to happen next. Try not to add more language or details than necessary.

2. Giving warnings about how many minutes are left for an activity and using a 5 second countdown can help children anticipate the end of an activity. Timers can be a useful tool for helping children transition, especially visual timers which allow children to see how much more time they have before an activity will end.

3. Visual schedules can help children predict daily activities (e.g. mealtime, social groups or sport activities, school and T.V time) and larger events on a monthly calendar (e.g. trips to the doctor or vacations).  These visual schedules have been shown to reduce transition times and negative behaviours.

4. Try to avoid giving an instruction multiple times or allowing a child to barter for more time with an activity.  This can send mixed signals about the expectation involved in transition routines.

5. Praise is a powerful tool to help ensure transitions go well in the future. You may need to praise certain aspects of the behavior, even if the desired end outcome isn’t achieved. (e.g. “You did such a fantastic job of putting on your coat and shoes before school. Next time let’s work on putting the toys back in the bin, before getting dressed.”)

No matter what tools and techniques you use to help support your child’s transitions, being consistent and following through are two of the most important things to remember. Each child is different and some techniques will work better for some than others. Knowing your child and their learning strengths and deficits can help you choose suitable tools and techniques to teach them to transition more independently and appropriately over time.

Canoe Therapy is committed to providing a comprehensive range of therapies for kids of all ages in the greater Toronto area. Their areas of expertise include behavioural, occupational & speech therapy, as well as physiotherapy and psychology. If you’re interested in beginning your journey with Canoe, contact their Etobicoke therapy centre today.