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One of the ways that our team occupational therapists support children with disability and their families is by helping with transitions. We work with children and families throughout Brisbane and the greater Brisbane area including in North Lakes, Ipswich, and Logan.
What are transitions?
Transition happen multiple times throughout our everyday lives. For most adults we might not even recognise transitions because they don’t cause us much concern. However, for children, they can cause anxiety or stress and become challenging parts of everyday life. Transitions involve moving from one activity or place to another. It is not uncommon for transitions to be a source of anxiety and stress in such a way that this impacts everyday family life and a family’s ability to move through the regular routines of the day.
Examples of transitions
Some examples of everyday transitions include:
How we can help
There are number of ways that occupational therapy can help children with disability and their families if you are struggling with transitions. Always talk to your child’s occupational therapist to work through the best methods to suit your child, your family and your everyday lives. Here are some of the methods that they might suggest to help.
Cues: Provide a familiar cue to let your child know a transition is about to happen, like a particular song, rhyme or gesture.
Object: Use a transition object that can be taken from one place to the next which signals that a transition is about to happen.
Timers: Time is an abstract concept for children and can be difficult for them to understand that things need to happen within a given timeframe. Using an egg timer or stopwatch can help them to visualise and understand.
Further info
Our therapy team are here to help and support your child with a disability who may find transitions challenging or stressful. This can be tough on the whole family as our days are so busy. Get in touch with the team today by calling us on 1800 XAVIER or visit our occupational therapy page.