I wanted to share a video about transitions and autism. This is a topic that comes up with almost every case, and often examples of transition techniques for children, adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or Asperger's Disorder. It's also a technique I discuss with parents and teachers dealing with ADHD, as difficulty with transitions is often a key moment in the day when problems occur. Here you will find a video on transitions that is provided by POPARD, the Provincial Outreach Program for Autism and Related Disorders. POPARD has a lot of materials, including excellent eLearning lessons for both teachers and parents. Here is the website to watch this video:
http://www.autismoutreach.ca/elearning/classroom-strategies/transitions
Now transitions are difficult for students because disorders such as autism, Aspergers, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD or ADHD) often effect the brains frontal lobes, an area that handles what we call "Executive Function." This is the part of the brain that allows us to switch mental sets, or transition from one activity to another. It's also the part of the brain that allows us to change thoughts, or our focus of attention, and finally, it's the part of the brain that tells us to wait! Oddly students with executive dysfunction, which includes most students and children with autism, Asperger's or ADHD can have difficulty with both switching from one activity to another (or moving from one place to another), difficulty stopping one activity and starting another, AND difficulty with impulsivity. They may also switch abruptly, at the wrong moments. This is often why children, adolescents and adults with autism, Asperger's and ADHD have difficulty sustaining attention during transition and need supports.
An excellent support is the use of visual transition strategies. These supports do several things which promote independence, they: increase appropriate behaviour during the transition; reduce the need for adult prompts (and reduce the chance that a child will become "prompt dependent"); increase predictability for the child, adolescent or adult (and thereby reduces anxiety) and finally they provide consistent or "non-transient" visual information. They provide prompts or cues that the person can count on being the same any time, any place.
For children visual prompts for transitions can be things such as a Time-Timer (a special clock that visually shows the remaining time in a large, red pie section), transition strips or countdown strips, simple single or multi-item transition cards, visual schedules such as PEC cards, to do and finish boxes, visual outlines on task papers, reading or other assignments. An important aspect of using visual cues and prompts to make transitions is that the cues are external, outside the brain, and therefore are clear. As adults most of us use these sorts of supports, using either a paper visual calendar or maybe an iphone or other electronic calendar. The point is that visual cues help us through these transitions, they prompt us to make changes and cue us when those changes are to happen. POPARD's web page has several other useful videos on using specific visual devices, and the one mentioned above has some demonstrations. One problem that I often see is that when a student or child becomes competent at a specific task that was supported by a visual transition cue of some sort, the cue is taken away. This is not the time to remove visual supports. Instead we should think: "Now that Tommy responds well to this visual transition prompt, where else can I use this tool?" and "How do I need to change this for next year, when he might need something more socially appropriate for secondary school?" We change the nature of the visual prompt to closer match the child's developmental level (which is ever changing) and we think about how we can now use this successful tool in new areas where the child, adolescent or adult with autism, Asperger's or ADHD might be having problems. What we don't do is remove a successful support because a specific skill is learned.
Some good resources for understanding the use of transition supports can be found on the POPARD web page. There are also numerous books on using visual supports ranging from PECS programs to using visual supports for organization and task completion (by Michelle Winner). Look for these tools to help you, and find a professional to help you with the implementation if you need it.
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More information on the services I provide for students, children, adolescents and adults with autism, Asperger's, ADHD, learning disabilities and related disorders can be found on my web page at www.relatedminds.com, www.adhdhelp.ca or at www.socialcognitivetherapy.com
My offices are located in Burnaby and Vancouver and service Coquitlam, Port Moody, New Westminster, Maple Ridge and North Vancouver.
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