Tick tock! What time is it? Teaching time can be difficult. It’s an abstract concept which can make it hard for students to understand. Here are some tips for when it’s time to teach time!
Use Visuals
Using visuals is an “always” for my students! We use visuals for behavior support, communicating wants and needs, and also for academic support. Using visuals to add to a clock could help your students when teaching time on both analog and digital clocks. Visuals and models provide prompting for your students to practice, and these prompts can be faded over time.
Using file folder tasks with visuals is another good option to practice the numbers on a clock. If your student’s IEP goals have to do with time to the hour, half-hour, or quarter, this unit is for you! This unit includes visual posters as well!
Use Hands-On Tasks
Another “always” for us is using hands-on tasks to really get in there and touch what we are learning! When students get to practice using multiple modalities (for example, using visuals, things they can touch, getting verbal prompting, and sensory input) it helps to serve students with diverse needs better. Use all sorts of tools: whiteboards and markers, plastic clocks, real clocks, file folders, velcro manipulatives, and more!
Practice the Concept Itself
- Use Visual Timers
- Use time “puzzles”
- Use a token economy to wait
When teaching time, it’s a good idea to also practice the general concept. Waiting can be tough for students with disabilities. Honestly, to have to wait for a preferred item can be tough for anyone! Using different tools to practice time and the concept itself will help students understand time better plus increase their ability to wait for an outcome.
Using a token economy can be a helpful tool to practice waiting for a period of time. Use a chart with an allotted amount of stars (or pictures of anything the student likes). Given a time limit (like 15 seconds, 1 minute, etc.), if the student is able to wait with a calm body, they get a star when the timer rings. When the chart is completed, they are done waiting. A time puzzle is similar; a student gets a piece of the puzzle at the end of the allotted time. When their waiting is complete, they have a completed puzzle.
Match Clocks to Student’s Schedules
Use your student’s schedule to show times and include a visual of a clock that shows the real times that things occur. You can make real-life connections to the times shown on a clock.
When you’re teaching time and a student is working on both analog or digital clocks, think about how you could add clock visuals to the student’s schedule. Need some help with schedules? Read Sabrina‘s blog about prepping schedules here.
Use a Researched Method: Video Modeling
A study of middle school students with Autism or Intellectual Disability in 2013* revealed that using Video Self-Modeling to practice math skills helped students increase math problem-solving skills by 74 – 98%.
Students used a tablet with video access to watch a model of a desired behavior (for example, completing a worksheet) and then performed the task themselves.
VSM (video self-modeling) has been used to teach a variety of skills, including transitional behaviors (Cihak et al., 2010), social-communication, and functional/life skills (Bellini & Akullian, 2007; Buggey, 2007), perspective taking (Charlop-Christy & Daneshvar, 2003), and academic performance (Hitchcock, Dowrick, & Prater, 2003).
This method could be used to teach time with success!
*Study Mentioned Above: Burton, C. E., Anderson, D. H., Prater, M. A., & Dyches, T. T. (2013). Video self-modeling on an iPad to teach functional math skills to adolescents with autism and intellectual disability. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 28(2), 67–77. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088357613478829
Other Works Cited:
Cihak, D. F., Kessler, K. B., & Alberto, P. A. (2007). Generalized use of a handheld prompting system. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 28, 397–408.
Bellini, S., & Akullian, J. (2007). A meta-analysis of video modeling and video self-modeling interventions for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Exceptional Children, 73, 264–287.
Buggey, T. (2007). “A picture is worth”: Video self-modeling applications at school and home. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 9, 151–158.
Charlop-Christy, M., & Daneshvar, S. (2003). Using video modeling to teach perspective taking to children with autism. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 5, 12–21.
Hitchcock, C. H., Dowrick, P. W., & Prater, M. A. (2003). Video self-modeling intervention in school-based settings: A review. Remedial and Special Education, 24, 36–45, 56.
