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When families get information and feedback during the process, anxiety and fear of the unknown goes away. Use the telephone during transitions. Hearing about how things are going during the initial stages of transition can be extremely helpful. Conversations at drop off or pick up are also essential. If the child’s primary teacher is not present at arrival or departure, special accommodations will need to be made to ensure communication.

Plan for parent or family initiated conferences early in the transition process. Families will likely need conversations to allay fears, to discuss routines like eating and napping, or to just touch base about how they feel the transition is going.

Written information includes notes, observations, and assessments. Daily records can be used to share anecdotes of the day’s experience. Daily records give parents and family members information at a glance and serve as documentation of what the day was like. Observation notes share the child’s experiences with the curriculum as well as with daily routines. Document these experiences with photographs and share your notes and the photos with families. Documentation enables the family see what the child is doing and learning at school. Assessments help families see their child’s growth as compared to developmental norms or to other same age children. This broader view of the child in the context of school is an important reference for the family and the teacher.

Communication between the family and teacher

Parents and family members have a role in information sharing. Because you do not yet know their child as well as they do, build in a way to share this information. Checklists or questionnaires are a start that can later be supplemented
by sharing observations and insights in other ways.

Step 3:
Expecttransitions to take time

Transitions should take a gradual approach. Rather than requiring the child to make the transition all at once, spread out the process across time. In general, transitions that start slowly with visits to the school, then short days, then longer days with visits from a family member during the day are more successful.

For infants and toddlers, we recommend (and have had the most success with) transitions that last anywhere from two to six weeks. For preschoolers, we recommend at least a three-day process, following the child’s lead about the pace and timing.

It is a shared responsibility to make sure the child’s transition succeeds. Begin this partnership by creating a plan, either in a face-to-face conference or by telephone or e-mail contacts. During this conversation, the teacher, in consultation with the family, can structure a plan that will work for this child, this family, this teacher, and this classroom of children and this school.

Once the child arrives at school for the first day of gradual enrollment, the teacher needs to do everything within his/her power to make the child feel comfortable in the new environment. Immediate greetings of family members, introductions, classroom tours, help with finding a place to put things, finding something to do or a place to sit and watch, and identifying a play peer to invite the child to play with are all good examples of things to try. When children are cautious or slow to warm to new settings, interact through the family member or a toy. This technique is called triangulation and prevents children from being overwhelmed by the need to interact with an unfamiliar person. If you are talking to mom or playing with the blocks and interacting through the play, children will be more likely to relax and join in.

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