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At first glance, little things like transitioning from one activity to the next may seem like an easy task.  We do it everyday… when we go to school, to go grocery shopping, when it’s time for bed.  However, many children struggle with this task due to their difficulty with accepting change within their environment.  This is especially difficult for children who are on the Autism Spectrum as these children have a hard time with change and benefit from a repetitive and routine schedule.  Deviating from routine can result in changes in moods, behaviors and could impact their performance on certain academic tasks.  So what can parents or teachers do to help these children?

PREPARING FOR THE DAY:

• Visual Schedules:
  • Visuals are key for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder as it adds an additional modality for processing new information.  Parents can create visual schedules for daily routines at home such as morning routine, bedtime routine or weekend routines.  Parents should go over these routines with their children to ensure the child understands what is going to happen for that day.  It is especially important for parents to inform their children if changes to the routine are expected for that day such as additional events (e.g. birthday parties, trips etc.) as this will help the child expect and prepare for these changes to their daily routine.  If last minute changes are to be made and there is no time to tell the child beforehand, parents should inform the child verbally but still change the picture on the visual schedule when they get home.  When the parents change the picture, they should educate the child on what this event may have replaced on the schedule so the child isn’t expecting an event that is no longer happening.
  • Benefits for teachers: Many changes and transitions happen during a typical school day.  Teachers can create each students schedule before the children arrive for the day.  These visual schedules should include all events that are to take place for the day such as related services, morning circle, lunch, recess, extracurricular activities, and bus pick up.  This allows the students to prepare for their day and expect changes that will occur during their day.  Each student’s schedule should be individualized to them and should be created in the order that the events will take place.  Student’s can take off pictures for completed tasks which adds an additional visual of what is to come and what has already happened.
• Sequencing Schedules for Activities of Daily Living:
  • Facilitating independence is an essential part of helping and teaching children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.  Parents and teachers should always presume competence.  Sequencing schedules are beneficial for teaching daily routines.  These can be created for any routine such as brushing your teeth, washing your hands, folding laundry etc.  These visuals help children understand the order and steps that are included in a task and allows them to perform tasks independently.

SHORT TERM TECHNIQUES:

Okay, the child has their visual schedule for the day and it is time to transition from one activity to the next.  You show them their visual schedule… but wait…. the visual schedule is not working and the child is still demonstrating difficulty transitioning…. what else can you do?

• Visual timers
  • Visual timers are a great tool for helping children better understand when a task will be completed and how much time is left on a specific task.  This helps with transitioning from preferred activities but also helps motivate children during non-preferred activities.
  • Preferred Activities: It’s play time during school or at home and you want to prepare the child for the end of this activity.  This may require a little more help than the visual schedule alone.  Visual timers are great for transitioning from preferred activities.  The timer can be set to the allotted amount of time and as the timer ticks down it creates a visual for the child.  There are many visual timer apps available for children.  I prefer using the app “Timer for Kids” by Idea4e.  This app allows the child to pick an animal and as the timer ticks down the animal begins to appear until the time is up and the full picture of the animal is shown.  This app also has background music which is comforting for the child.  The child should be informed of the amount of time the timer will be set to and verbal reminders can be given throughout the activity.  Visual timers help the child understand when their preferred activity will be over and helps them prepare for that transition.
  • Non-preferred Activities: Visual timers are also very helpful for motivating children for non-preferred activities such as classroom work or daily routines such as brushing their teeth.  Visual timers can be set and the child can be informed that the task will only last for the amount of time decided upon by the teacher.  This is also a great way to help children work up to longer tasks.  For example, the first week during classroom work the child may only sit for 5 minutes at the table.  The teacher can set the timer for 5 minute increments and allow breaks in between.  The next week the teacher may choose to increase the time on the timer and have the child sit at the table for longer.  The teacher can continue increasing this time for each week until the child sits at the table for the entire time during classroom work.

Source: Super Duper Handout #134

-Jenna Oldfield MA, CF-SLP, TSSLD