Difficulty with transitions

Transitions happen constantly.

Some are obvious: arriving at school, changing lessons, leaving the playground, moving classrooms or going home.

Others are much smaller: stopping a preferred activity, moving from listening to writing, changing conversation, putting something away, shifting attention, beginning the next task or responding when an expected plan changes.

For some young people, these transitions require substantially more effort than adults realise.

A transition can involve several demands at once:

• stopping something;
• disengaging attention;
• managing uncertainty;
• organising what happens next;
• processing new information;
• tolerating loss of control;
• entering a different sensory or social environment;
• regulating feelings about what is ending or beginning.

Difficulty with transitions is therefore not simply a reluctance to “move on”.

It is a presentation that can arise for many different reasons.

A young person might:

• become distressed when an activity finishes;
• repeatedly ask what is happening next;
• struggle to leave preferred activities;
• delay packing away;
• remain physically in one place after others have moved;
• become argumentative when asked to change activity;
• need significantly more warning than peers;
• become distressed by timetable changes;
• refuse to enter a new room;
• become dysregulated after apparently managing a transition;
• rush through transitions chaotically;
• lose possessions or forget what is needed next;
• appear to ignore instructions;
• become very focused on completing something before moving;
• struggle particularly with unexpected transitions;
• need familiar rituals or sequences around change.

Sometimes a young person can manage the destination but struggles with the act of getting there.

Sometimes the difficulty is leaving what came before.

Sometimes it is uncertainty about what comes next.

Don’t assume

Do not assume that:

• transition difficulty is deliberate non-compliance;
• the young person simply needs firmer warnings;
• they are refusing because the next activity is disliked;
• all transitions are equally difficult;
• a countdown will help every young person;
• difficulty with transitions automatically indicates autism;
• successful transitions mean no support was required.

The same young person may move easily between some activities and struggle considerably with others.

That variation is useful formulation information.

A useful sequence is:

Predict → prepare → reduce load → support the shift → orient to what comes next → recover

Helpful approaches include:

• visual schedules;
• advance warning;
• predictable transition routines;
• clear information about what is ending and beginning;
• first–then structures where appropriate;
• allowing time to finish or safely pause activities;
• transition objects or prompts where developmentally useful;
• support organising equipment;
• reducing corridor or environmental load;
• travelling before or after peak movement times;
• meaningful choice within the transition;
• co-regulation;
• low-arousal communication;
• explicit plans for unexpected changes.

Advance warning is only helpful when it gives the young person usable information.

Repeatedly announcing that something difficult is approaching without providing support can simply extend the period of anticipatory distress.