Transitions are a part of everyday life at home and school. However, they can be challenging for children and adults alike, and the demands can be complex! During transitions, the sensory environment is more stimulating, and expectations are often higher than during lessons or structured activities. Often there is more noise in the room, lots of movement, and visual distractions. We expect students to follow multiple-step directions and navigate their bodies through the room while their peers do the same. The following strategies offer ideas to support our students during this frequent occurrence in the school day.

1. Calendar
Younger classrooms often have a visual schedule, but older kiddos can benefit too! Offer a written plan for students who can read. When a child asks what is next, refer them to the schedule to teach them to use it. As adults, we often use our planners or apps to keep track of our days. Learning to check a calendar is a tool that kids can use in their childhood and beyond. Be sure to keep your schedule updated to prevent unexpected changes.

2. Provide a Warning
Unexpected transitions are more challenging. Think of the last time you experienced a surprise fire drill. It feels alarming and dysregulating! Many children feel this way during routine changes. A simple way to prevent this is by giving the group advance notice of the upcoming transition. You can direct this by announcing how much time they have left or making it more concrete. For example, let them know they can color one more shape, and then they will wash their hands.

3. Keep It Structured
We have children with a variety of needs in our classrooms. It can be challenging to develop a transition routine when you have students who need different supports. Some children will complete the transition quickly and become impatient or unsure of what to do while waiting for the next direction. Offer an activity to keep the structure going. For example, when children complete an art project, they can grab a book and return to their seats. When they finish lunch, they can pick a center.

4. Sing it! Move it!
An efficient strategy for younger ones, singing provides a constant familiar activity while students complete their transition. You can use the same songs for daily changes to give an extra level of consistency. Similarly, offering a movement activity can provide a motor break and support the flow of the transition. Try marching to the bathroom, tip-toeing to cubbies, or walking heel-to-toe to another room.

5. Recognize a Job Well Done!
Transitions are a complex routine to learn for young children. Provide plenty of praise for students who follow directions and stay regulated. Providing positive reinforcement helps students understand what expected behavior looks like by observing what their peers are doing well.

CBS Therapy is passionate about helping children with special needs and serving the schools, therapists, and families who support them. New England’s premier provider of school-based and special education staffing services in the Northeast, CBS Therapy also has therapy clinics that offer speech-language, occupational and physical therapy services.

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Children with ASD often qualify for an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or a Section 504 plan. Each of these programs promotes support for students to access their learning environment.

Anyone on the IEP team can suggest accommodations: Teachers, behavior analysts, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and even parents and administrators. Each student should have accommodations in place to best support their unique needs. Common adaptations fall into the cognitive, sensory, behavioral, emotional, and communication domains.

Cognitive:

1. Pre-teaching. This involves giving children a heads-up before diving into a lesson or new routine. You can use this accommodation to pre-teach an upcoming fire drill, a new teacher joining the classroom, or novel lesson concepts.

2. Provide short, concise directions. Clear directions that are understandable to the student can give a child a successful start and reduce confusion.

3. Active learning opportunities. This might include experiential learning, incorporating movement, or selecting materials that align with the child’s interests.

Sensory:

1. Reduction of visual clutter. Students overresponsive to visual input can become highly distracted by busy posters, toy shelves, and excess writing on a printed page.

2. Access to a quiet space or noise-canceling headphones. This will allow the child to regulate if the classroom feels too loud.

3. Flexible seating. The opportunity to move and change positions can help many children with ASD self-regulate and attend.

Behavioral:

1. Preferential seating. Specify if the student needs to sit near a teacher, facing away from a visually stimulating area or somewhere else.

2. Positive reinforcement. Reward appropriate behavior with praise, incentives, or a token system.

3. Small group instruction. This can be a behavioral or academic accommodation and reduces sensory and social demands.

Emotional:

1. Deep pressure breaks. Deep pressure helps many children feel calm and connected. You can carry out deep pressure by giving the student a weighted ball massage, presenting a weighted lap pad, or letting them wear a Lycra body sock.

2. Zones of Regulation. The Zones curriculum can be carried out across school and home environments and give children the language and tools to practice self-regulation.

Communication:

1. Modeling. A common strategy that is often included in an IEP is adult modeling for peer interactions or self-talk.

2. Assistive technology. One essential accommodation for children with autism spectrum disorder involves communication devices. Both low and high-tech devices help a child communicate.

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The expectation for kids to start writing is getting earlier and earlier all of the time. However, the youngest children don’t have the physical development needed to use the small muscles in their fingers and hands to hold and control a pencil.

1. Strengthen Big Muscles First:
For a person to write successfully, they need to be able to stabilize their upper arm. If the movement comes from their shoulder joint when they write, they will get tired out quickly. Use play to strengthen the upper body. Wheelbarrow walking, crawling, and animal walks all work well for this.

2. Get vertical:
Tape a piece of paper to a wall or find an easel with a chalkboard or blackboard. Let the child color to their heart’s content. Kids enjoy the novelty of this activity, and it allows for practice with grasp and getting the wrist into the correct position for writing. If this feels tricky, tape a sheet of paper to the wall and let them place stickers on it for a similar effect.

3. Draw:
Creating simple drawings is a great way to work on visual-motor integrations skills. Sometimes referred to as hand-eye coordination, visual-motor integration involves using coordinated movements to make marks with intention. Start with easy drawings and work your way up. An excellent progression could be drawing a smiley face, then a person, then a teddy bear. First, demonstrate how to make it so that your child can copy you. For ideas and inspiration, check YouTube or your local library for drawing guides.

4. Letter Recognition:
Letter recognition is a part of learning to write. Point out letters in books, on signs, blocks, and in their name. Focus on capital letters, to begin with since those are the first letters they will most likely learn to write. Alphabet magnets are a popular exploration item.

5. Write… But Not On Paper:
Practice creating letters in new and different ways! Try rolling out play-doh letters, making letters with sticks, lines and curves cut out of paper, Legos, and anything else you have handy. You can make a sensory tray with a box lid and fill it with rice or salt to trace letters.

6. Kid-Size Tools:
When the concepts and skills are coming together, and your child is ready to start writing letters, use child-sized writing utensils. This promotes the development of a mature grasp. Start with bits of chalk and broken crayons. For older kids, try golf pencils.

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Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent disorders of childhood. The CDC estimates that between 3 and 7% of school-aged children have ADHD. Characterized by inattention, impulsivity and/or hyperactivity, ADHD impacts many areas of a child’s life. This includes social participation with peers and relationships with adults, academics, executive functioning skills like organization and time management, and more. Pediatricians may recommend medication and/or a variety of non-pharmaceutical interventions.

Nonpharmacological Interventions

1. Behavior modification: This intervention involves using behavioral strategies in everyday routines to provide structure, reward positive behavior, and communicate expectations.

2. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Also known as CBT, cognitive behavioral therapy involves self-management that results in behavior modification. The process involves identifying and challenging problematic thoughts and behaviors and replacing them with practical actions.

3. Environmental Modifications: Children with ADHD are more likely than their peers to be overresponsive to sensory input; thus, the classroom can be more difficult for them to navigate.

4. Sensory Integration: Sensory integration is a specific intervention approach used by occupational therapists. This sensory-rich therapy allows children to process and integrate different kinds of sensory input in a controlled environment.

5. Activity Modifications: For the child with ADHD, a multi-step activity can become overwhelming and result in behaviors or withdrawal. Breaking down large tasks into manageable chunks can allow the child to experience success. Reduce the size of homework or the amount of written material on handouts.

6. Social Skills Training: Social skills training provides children with ADHD the opportunity to learn and practice social skills. Several professionals use this intervention, and intervention may include education, use of social protocols, modeling, role-playing, practice in the community, and more.

7. Team Collaboration: When a child’s disability impacts their participation at school, the child’s team may adopt an IEP or 504 plan. Children benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration, and the team may consist of the parents or caregivers, the child’s physician, special education teacher, regular education teacher, social worker, counselor, or occupational therapist.

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