Daily transitions

All children will experience transitions as part of their daily routine. This might include:

  • Arrival and pick up times.
  • Snack and meal times.
  • Transitioning from indoor to outdoor environment.
  • Switching from one activity to another.
  • Moving between rooms.

Transitions are an important part of the daily routine which provide structure and security, allowing the child to predict and cope with changes throughout the day.

Well-functioning transitions:

  • Provide opportunities for positive interactions.
  • Support a child’s current and future capacities for development and foster positive learning dispositions.
  • Support emotional regulation.
  • Provide children with a feeling of security by knowing what is happening next.
  • Nurture a child’s sense of anticipation and expectation of upcoming activities or events.
  • Establish a routine, take time to acknowledge a change of plan and give a clear purpose to tasks.
  • Develop lifelong coping skills such as independence and resilience.

(Better Start, 2023)

Some children experience difficulty around times of transition and you may find their behaviour changes when transitioning between activities, for example becoming anxious.

The following strategies from the National Autistic Society may help to support smooth transitions:

  • Display a visual timetable showing the day’s activities, or a now-and-next board.
  • Use a timer to indicate when an activity is finished.
  • Encourage the child to put the activity into a finished tray or to put the symbol for the activity into a finished box to signal that the activity is over.
  • Use visual supports to show the steps leading up to each activity.
  • Make the waiting time between activities as short as possible.
  • Have a visual, concrete representation of how long the child needs to wait before the activity is going to begin – this might be an electronic timer, sand timer, or stickers on a clock face.
  • Consider making enjoyable activities available during transition times – a transition box, containing a number of different activities, could keep the child focused during these times, making an unstructured timeframe much more structured. 
  • Provide verbal cues such as ‘5 minutes to clean up’ or a tidy-up song.

Read next: Managing change →