Transitions
Outcome 3, Children have a strong sense of wellbeing
Overview
Milestone. Child moves between activities, environments or people with increasing predictability, safety and independence.
Why it matters. Transitions are the most common trigger for dysregulation in early childhood settings. Each transition is a demand: stop what you’re doing, change your state and engage in something new, often without warning.
Age-banded milestones
- Accepts transitions with a familiar adult and warning
- Uses a transition object
- Copies routine actions (put shoes on to go outside)
- Follows a 2-step visual routine
- Accepts a 2-minute warning before change
- Recovers from transition upset within 5 minutes
- Uses a visual schedule with support
- Manages a change of plan with warning
- Transitions between activities with a peer
- Follows a daily visual schedule independently
- Copes with unexpected changes with brief support
- Helps prepare for transitions (packing away)
Red flags, when to seek support
If you notice one or more of these patterns, talk with a GP, child health nurse, speech pathologist or occupational therapist for further assessment.
- Extreme daily distress at every transition beyond age 3
- Unable to transition without physical support beyond age 4
- Rigid insistence on sameness that prevents daily routines
- Regression in transition skills over months
Strategies & activities
Activities
- Visual countdown for all transitions: 10 minutes, 5 minutes, “time to change”
- Transition card given directly to child with picture of next activity
- Consistent transition song or chime used every time
- Give a child a job during transition: line leader, door holder, basket carrier
- First-Then card: “First finishing time, then outside”
Materials
- Visual schedule with moveable “now” marker
- Individual transition cards (laminated, personalised)
- Sand timer or visual digital timer
- A comfort object for children needing a transitional bridge
Speech pathologist
- Teaching transition-related vocabulary: finished, next, wait, coming
- Providing language scripts for transition protest
- Supporting comprehension of time-related concepts: soon, after, when
Occupational therapist
- Assessing sensory processing factors in transition difficulty
- Identifying whether transitions trigger fight/flight/freeze responses
- Proprioceptive input before transitions to prepare the nervous system
- Grading transition demands: low-demand → higher-demand progressively
Educator role
- Never cold-transition: always give advance visual and verbal warning
- Keep transition language consistent, use the same words every time
- Reduce demands at transition time, expect less, not more
- For highly resistant children: individualised transition routine with known adult
Family support
- Use First-Then language at home consistently
- Give warnings before screen time ends or activities change
- Create predictable home transition routines (morning, bedtime)
- Share what transition strategies work at the centre for home consistency
Signs of progress
- 1Completes transitions with adult support reliably
- 2Responds to transition warning with less protest over time
- 3Uses transition language: “What’s next?”, “Is it finished now?”
- 4Independently follows visual schedule transitions without adult prompt
Related focus areas
Emotional Regulation
Child develops increasing ability to identify, express and manage their emotional states with adult co-regulation support.
Sensory Processing
Child processes and responds to sensory input in a way that supports participation and regulation across the childcare day.
Attention & Engagement
Child sustains focused attention on a chosen or directed activity for an age-appropriate duration and returns to task after interruption.
Take transitions further
Download our practitioner-ready summary, milestones, red flags and evidence-based strategies you can share with families and educators today.