Transition Strategy For Classroom or Home

Greetings. I mentioned before in my previous post how important smooth transitions are to children. I would like to share with you today an educational strategy that I learned while teaching children with developmental delays. All you need is a piece of paper without lines and two bright colored markers.

This is a skill that you can learn with ease. The catch is you have to be involved for this teaching strategy to be effective. Children need to know where they need to begin, how much work needs to be completed, and is the ending near. This applies to the classroom as well as in the home. You can simply take a piece of paper without lines that is large enough for your child to view. You will make a rectangle in the center of the paper with your colored marker. You are now sitting down with your student or child to model how this teaching strategy will work.

You will make a "X" to indicate the beginning of what you have assigned your student or child to start working on. If your child is having some difficulties cleaning up his/her room, you can use this teaching strategy. You will monitor how much "time" goes by before making another "X" right below the first "X." Make the "X" large enough that your child or student can see it nearby. As time passes, you monitor how much time you are giving your student or child to complete what you have assigned.

You will then make a third "X", I would explain to your child or student that this is the last "X" and you'll need to finish up with what you are doing. To indicate that it's time to finish, draw a line through the (X) with the other colored marker. This means it's time to stop.

This is an effective teaching strategy that does not require a lot of materials. It can easily be done.

Ms. C