Transition Strategies
Helping kids transition smoothly between activities, caregivers, or environments can reduce stress and make changes feel more predictable. Here are some effective transition strategies for kids:
Rituals: Creating a goodbye or welcome ritual like a special handshake, hug or even a phrase can make transitions feel more secure.
Transition Objects: Having a special toy or object that your child ONLY gets DURING a transition. If you can’t get your kid out of the door to make it to soccer practice, keep a highly desired item in the car that they only get to play with during car rides. Or, your child can bring a familiar item (like a stuffed animal) to help with big transitions (i.e. their favorite stuffy can go to daycare with them to make them feel safe).
Exchange strategy: This strategy involves using an item that your child will “exchange” once they have completed the transition. For example, if your child struggles being away from you, you can each keep an item from the other until you are reunited. This offers a sense of comfort and connection to ease separation anxiety. Using picture cards to exchange at the beginning/end of tasks (when it’s time for recess you can give the child a picture of the playground and when it’s time to come back inside you can exchange the picture with one of their desk, etc).
Visual Schedules: we can’t say enough great things about visual schedules. These are a great tool to use with kids to help them understand what to expect and help them stay organized during tasks and routines. They are also extremely helpful for easing transitions by allowing the child to understand what is coming next.
Timers: Setting timers to help your child prepare for transitions can be very helpful. We find time can be a difficult concept for a lot of kids to grasp, so using a visual timer may be more helpful in this case. This way they are able to “see” how much time they have left instead of saying “5 minutes”. Make sure to give plenty of warning before activity changes so your child has time to mentally prepare.
Choices: Offer choices during transitions to help give your child a sense of control. Do you want to hop to the car or walk backwards?
Every child is different and will handle transitions in their own way! Do what works best for your family and if you find you are still struggling with transitions feel free to reach out to us for individualized suggestions!
