Question

Why do some early childhood students have difficulty with transitions in the classroom? Identify and describe two strategies specific to students effectively transitioning.

Answer 1

School readiness or transition to classroo is considered as a cognitive and emotional developmental milestone is children. It is an indicator of child's ability to dissociate himself from his care-givers and adjust to a new social environment . Both parents and teachers have their own understanding of a child's transition. For example, for a teacher, it represents and emphasize a child's potential to regulate and transform himself in a new social setting, while for parents it represents accommodation of new cognitive(academic) skills. Now, a distressed transition in child is symptomatic of many problems(separation anxiety,autism etc), while a successful transitioning is a predictor of healthy developmental milestone. Functional and caring parents, along with supportive interaction with fellow classmates and teacher can aid in improving a childs cognitive-social competence. On the other other, a distressing enviroment at home ( lack of care ,attention) and absence of support and cognitive stimulation from teachers in classroom, often results in negative transitioning and grade retention.Psychological strategies can be used to deal with negative transitioning in children. Some of them are as follows.

Autism - For children with autism who transitioning to school, it is is a critical stage for them.For them the outer social world can be overwhelming and chaotic. Since they routinely follow and understand everything in order and sequence, therefore any deviation from this order can be extreamly distressful for them. Their focussed and attention skills is a result of their obsession with order, and any disruption in this order disrupts their equibirium . One of the ways teachers can help a autisic child is by organizing and maintaining the system of routine activities (for example, play). A routinely playing activity that involves card reading of new words woth images, will not only ease their anxiety about the sudden chaos, but would also facilitate their cognitive development and knowledge. Austic children are creative thinkers. They visuals thinkers and for this reason , many of them are good in drawings and computation. These talents should be encouraged and nurtured in these children. It would not only inculcate a feeling of self worth, but would also aid in future employment prospectus.

Anxiety- Anxiety can be a huge factor in negative transition of a child in the classroom. Separation anxiety from caregivers can induce an intense feeling of sadness wothin children. This firther, is acted out in class, either by withdrawing from the class activities or being too aggressive with others. It is not just the separation anxiety alone, but the fear of moving to a new social setting itself can trigger anxiety. For example, if a child has had a traumatic experience with men with black beard, he would generalise this anxiety and would be extreamly distressed if he encounters a male teacher with black beard. In this situation, it becomes very important for the teacher to calm down the child and make him feel at ease. The another step would be of understanding the root cause of the anxiety and the objects that triggers it. A playful conversation with the child and a counselling session with his parents can be extreamly helpful in facilitating positive transition in children with anxiety.

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