Student Observation—Managing Transitions continued

If the teacher is disorganized then transitions are not smooth for a majority of the students. But some students find transitioning to the next activity difficult, no matter how well established the classroom routine is, or how good the teacher is in classroom management.

Gather information about your students:

• Does your student have difficulty ending an activity? Does she need a lot of support to clean up?
• Does your student need a lot of support to start a new task? Do you give several verbal reminders, or even physically assist by opening the book, waiting right next to her until the student starts to work on the task?
• Is your student rigid and inflexible? This is the 'stubborn' student and wants everything her way. Because of this rigidity, she does not like to correct mistakes. She has trouble making friends.
• If your student doesn’t get her way, how does she react? Is she able to get over her disappointment within a reasonable timeframe or does she perseverate with temper tantrums and such?
• Does she dislike change? This interferes with learning new skills or engaging in new activities.
• Does she dislike surprises, often overreacting?This stops the student from taking risks and challenging herself.
• Is the student’s work very repetitive? Does she have trouble with spontaneous thought and action?

Quite often, the outward display of difficulty in transitioning is oppositional and defiant behavior. But if you understand that this difficulty to shift is due to valid reasons, you’ll be able to help your student follow directions and be more productive.

Reasons behind difficulty in transitioning:

In some children it could be anxiety due to the fear of the unknown. Separation anxiety in primary school is a classic example, where the child has a difficult time adapting to a new situation. In older children it could be due to fear of failure. When anxiety persists, it interferes with learning. If anxiety is the underlying cause, give the child some responsibility. Having some control over the choices goes a long way in reducing the student’s anxiety. Prepare the child for changes. If it is an unexpected change to the day’s routine, be sure to support the child through that period.

In other children, it could be due to sensory integration needs. Too many transitions in a day can be overwhelming and over stimulating to the student. As a result she over reacts—really a means of letting you know that she can’t handle the routine. Try to limit the number of transitions. You can have the student sit next to you or hold a ‘special’ object required for the class. Physical proximity to the teacher is a wonderful tool to help calm students.

In some students it can be due to executive functioning difficulties. Students need well developed executive function skills to shift attention from one activity to another. If this is an area of difficulty, then the student is not able to stop the first task, clean up and attend to the next task in a smooth manner.

It is crucial that as a teacher you must be organized, especially for this student. Use picture charts (visual cues) for classroom routines, and timers (or stop watches—to indicate start and stop points).

Ms. S