Classroom Transitions

1
Classroom Transitions

• Erica Castaneda, Amber Choy, and Staci Jordan

2
What are Transitions

• Refers to a change
• There are different types of transitions
• Within an activity
• Between activities
• Between settings
• Between programs
• Between people
• Today we will focus on transitions between
  activities

3
Common Transition Difficulties

• Tantrums
• Peer conflicts
• Aggressive behavior
• Wandering or running around room
• Not responding to direction
• The children in the class need frequent reminders
• Children take too much time
• Teacher feels frazzled at the end of transition
  time

4
Common Reasons Preschool Classrooms may Struggle
with Transitioning

• Too much wait time
• Unpredictable schedule
• Not enough warning
• Lack of supervision for children who tend to
  fight
• Children are unintentionally reinforced for poor
  transitions
• Children dont understand schedule
• Unclear expectations

5
Individual children who struggle with transitions

• Difficulties moving from a high-interest activity
  to a low-interest activity
• Children with attention problems may not hear or
  attend to the direction
• Children with sensory or spatial issues
• Children with autism
• Children with histories of trauma

6
Individual children who struggle with transitions

• Children dont know what to do during
  unstructured time
• Children have difficulty waiting
• Children who have a hard time predicting changes
• Children who struggle with changes in a familiar
  routine

7
Purpose of presentation

• Provide various strategies to address transition
  challenges at the universal, targeted, and
  intensive levels
• Level 1
• Universal practices that benefit all children
  (80)
• Level 2
• Targeted interventions that support children
  who dont respond to universal best practices
  (15)
• Level3
• Intensive interventions that support children
  with the most challenging needs

8
Universal Interventions

• Have daily reminders of activities and
  expectations.
• Model expected behaviors.
• Raising hand or getting in line quietly.
• Using consistent signals for transitions.
• Flashing lights, ringing a bell, or singing a
  song.
• Give a verbal warning before transitions so they
  can anticipate the change.
• Visual schedule for the day during circle time.

9
Universal Interventions

• Minimize wait time during transitions.
• Write the childs name on a piece of tag board
  and place it where they need to sit.
• While excusing children their attention can be
  maintained through activities.
• According to their likes and dislikes.
• According to what they are wearing.
• According to the letter of their name.
• According to their gender.

10
The Hidden Curriculum

• Children are often expected to know how to
  transition
• Many children need to learn this skill
• How to teach transitions
• Provide Rationale
• Model correctly and incorrectly
• Have children practice
• Support transitions pre-transition in natural
  environment
• Reinforce successful transitions

7
11
Targeted Level

• A good example of a tier 2 transition
  intervention is found in Tools of the Mind
  (Bodrova Leong, 2007)
• Combination of other and self-monitoring
• A good match for students who need a little more
  support and dont seem to notice their own level
  of activity, but who have good cognitive and
  verbal skills.

12
Targeted Level

• Teach the transition to the whole classroom
• Give child the job of monitoring transition
  times of other children
• Secret spy
• When child is familiar with monitoring others,
  have him monitor himself
• Add a goal component
• Helps a child recognize what teacher actually
  means when she says quietly calmly etc.
• Please see handout for additional Tier 2
  intervention ideas

13
Intensive Level

• Social Stories
• Help children to self-regulate by organizing and
  interpreting daily transitions.
• Provide language and visual supports about how to
  behave in a situation.
• Picture Schedules
• Display activities in the order in which they
  will occur.
• Help children transition from one activity to
  another because they understand what happens next.

14
Intensive Level

• Visual Timers
• Helps to make the concept of time more concrete.
• Provides a visual representation of how much time
  is left, making transitions more predictable.
• Transition Objects
• Helps to increase independence.
• Helps to decrease anxiety.

15
Summary

• There are many possible difficulties with
  transitions.
• By providing transition strategies at the
  Universal, Targeted, and Intensive levels can
  decrease common transition difficulties.
• There are many resources within a school such as
• Other teachers
• Parents
• Administrators
• Social Worker
• School Psychologist
• School Counselor
• By maintaining a collaborative team effort, and
  including parents perspective, transitions can
  be made easier for teachers and students.
• Case Studies.

16
References

• Bodrova, E., Leong, D. J. (2007). Tools of the
  Mind The Vygotskian Approach to Early Childhood
  Education. Saddle River, NJ Pearson.
• Killu, K., Sainato, D. M., Davis, C. A., Ospelt,
  H., Neeley, J. (1998). Effects of
  high-probability request sequences on
  preschoolers compliance and disruptive
  behaviors. Journal of Behavioral Education. 8(3),
  347-368.
• McIntosh K., Herman, K., Sanford, A., McGraw,
  K., Florence, K. (2004). Teaching transitions
  Techniques for promoting success between lessons.
  Teaching Exceptional Children. 37. 32-38.
• Ostrosky, M. M., Jung, E. Y., Hemmeter, M. L.
  (nd). Helping Children Make Transitions between
  Activities. Center of the Social and Emotional
  Foundations for Early Learning. Retrieved
  5/4/2009 from http//www.vanderbilt.edu.
• Reif, S. (2003). The ADHD Book of Lists. San
  Francisco, CA Jossey-Bass.
• Sandall, S. R. Schwartz, I. S. (2002). Helping
  children with challenging behaviors succeed in
  the classroom. Building Blocks for Teaching
  Preschoolers with Special Needs. 1-5.
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
  (2003). Inventory of practices for promoting
  childrens social and emotional competence. The
  Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations
  for Early Learning. 1-28.
• Wilder, D. A., Chen, L., Atwell, J., Pritchard,
  J., Weinstein, P. (2006). Brief functional
  analysis and treatment of tantrums associated
  with transitions in preschool children. Journal
  of Applied Behavioral Analysis. 39 103-107.