Transition Skills

Transition skills involve “shifting gears” from environment to environment, or from task to task. The observable behaviour involves switching from one place or one activity to another, with minimal fuss. The cognitive tasks required to make easy transitions are significant. They include: flexible problem-solving to change one’s mind set; changing focus from one activity; and adapting emotionally to change.

Students with transition skills needs take more time or may be unable to easily make transitions in activities or environments or tasks, even when they know the routine well. These students may: have difficulty with switches in tasks or of mind set, and might react emotionally when forced to change when they are not ready or willing. 

Indicators:

Students with transition skills needs may:

Have difficulty with shifting gears, cognitively, or they might perseverate, such as:

• Resists a change in routine, food, places, etc.
• Appear fixated on an activity
• Be reluctant, or refuse to stop an activity that is in progress
• Continue an activity long after the teacher introduces a new one
• Be unable to use a different way to solve a problem after their method fails
• Have difficulty accepting a different way of solving a problem with school work or friends
• Try the same approach to a problem over and over, even when it does not work
• Has trouble getting used to new classmates or a new schedule
• Think too much about the same topic, even when it is not necessary or productive

React emotionally when faced with change, such as:

• Becomes upset with new situations
• Shows a high level of anxiety and stress around changes
• Gets agitated when presented with changes
• Gets upset when plans change
• Gets upset when there is a change of teacher
• Is unable to move beyond a specific disappointment or unmet need, remaining upset much longer than is typical for their age

Instructional Strategies:

Instructional strategies involve preparing the student in advance for change, talking about change, and providing consistency in their routine, where possible.  

Prepare the student for upcoming change and transitions:

• Have the student visit the new environment, like school, or a new class, many times before entering
• Take photos of the new place or personnel and use these to prepare for a visit
• Use a personal calendar to mark off the days leading up to a big change, such as a class trip, school vacation, or change of teacher
• Write social stories to prepare for change involving people, like moving to a new room, or receiving a new teacher
• Provide a gradual entry for the student into a new classroom
• Orchestrate social opportunities for the student to meet and interact with others
• Use role play and provide short exposures to the situation, person, or object
• Use “what if” scenarios to imagine change before making a change
• Rehearse tasks
• Use a visual timer to count down the minutes to the transition
• Use advance organizers, like week at a glance, month at a glance

Provide consistency in routines and teaching methods:

• Post the student’s schedule in the classroom, on his or her desk, and provide a copy for home
• Use effective techniques from previous years, shared by the student’s previous teachers
• Use visual schedules to indicate transition times in the schedule
• Allow the student to carry a linking object of their choice when transitioning from one environment to another
• When the student asks what will happen next, direct him or her to read the schedule
• Share the teaching strategies and process for solving problems that was taught to the student when another teacher or a tutor or parent helps the student with assignments.

Teach the student to control emotional responses:

• Encourage the student to talk through their emotional distress.  Encourage the student to talk about solutions.
• Give the student a limited time to gain control of their emotions, “In 5 minutes you need to be ready to go”.
• Do not argue with the emotionally upset child who tries to bargain to resist the change
• Anticipate the emotional response and start the transition 5 minutes early.

Environmental Strategies:

• Provide an individual work space where the student knows where all of their belongings will be
• Provide preferential seating in class
• Post visual cues and reminders of the schedule at their desk or workstation
• Do testing within the time period for the subject, in the same classroom, where possible

Assessment Strategies:

• Chunk questions that are alike into units with clear headings on the test.
• Provide a new heading when the type of question or the operation or response method on the test changes
• Assign partial marks for questions, where possible, when the student perseverates with the wrong operation or response strategy