how to teach time concept? not in like hours and minutes but fast and slow, hurry-hurry, now we can relax

[joburg]

DD almost 7 doesn't seem to understand this ... we tried role modeling, walking her in the house in a fast pace-slow pace, explaining that in the weekend we can play a bit and not hurry with brushing teeth but when it's school day we can't play, we just need to brush teeth and getting ready for school. Today we can play in the bath, because we have time. Today we need to hurry if we want to still be able to watch cartoons. The word 'hurry' doesn't seem to make any sense to DD. No matter what she will just forget about herself than get frustrated for not having time to do all that she wants, no matter how many times i go to her trying to hurry her up. Is it that she doesn't get the time concept? Or the rhythm? Or what?????? I get nuts here .....

oh, it's not only when she is not in the mood, that i could understand ...

Perhaps you need to buy a time timer?

One of the things we are doing is attaching fast and slow to ds' favourite things, especially singing.

I sing a song and then ask him 'fast or slow'?

Same with other games. When I want him to hurry I say, - 'let's brush out teeth very very fast' but make sure there was the opportunity the day before to brush teeth very very slowly which makes him giggle.

When using a time timer, you can promise something nice if she can get downstairs before all of the red has gone. It will have to be an immediate and concrete reward to begin with.

DPW does a time timer count down from 1 hour?

Anything up to 1 hour. Probaby 3 minutes is the minimum that would be understood visually though.

Either that or get a 5 minute, 3 minute, 2 minute & 1 minute sand timer.

We already tried with the timer. result: DD terrified of it, was even slower than before (i guess she just doesn't like the pressure ). A few times she started to whine already when she saw it, otherwise she just whined after the timer went off and she was only half way through her activity.
What amazes me is that she wouldn't move any faster when told hurry hurry, when she is clearly told she won't have time to watch her 'damn' favorite cartoons! that should be the ultimate bribe, and she still looks on the walls .... then when the time is up she just goes on screaming and shouting that this is not fair .... obviously she just doesn't get the concept that time is up! sorry, nothing else to do ..... how do i explain this to her? Again, we tried many times to teach rhythm, fast walk, slow walk, fast brush, slow brush, etc, that she should know it already ....

Can it be smth like 'why hurry when i have all the time in the world?' in her mind? In that case how do i make her understand time is limited sometimes? .... i don't know, i go nuts with her

we did try explaining the time amount in terms of ten beads on the floor .... eight gone, only two left .... didn't seem to make much sense to dd i guess. She is almost 7 though, we have had some hundreds of mornings preparing for the school bus by now, shouldn't it start to make some sense for her?

hmmm,

I remember my SALT saying that if you introduce the visual aids (like timers) in the situation that is stressful first, the child tends to react against the visual aids. I wonder if that has happened here?

It does sound as though you need to back up a little, doesn't it? I think time being up is quite a tricky concept and that "we have to do X otherwise Y will not happen" is extremely tricky linguistically.

are you aware of the various dialogues between moondog and others (me in particular) about calendars, timetimers and clocks? I think that is the foundational stuff for time things.

lingle I got the polaroid pogo for next month's calendar activity. March was his very first month and already now he reminds me that 'day has finished, do the cross'. He likes it when I draw a little picture in of something we did so I thought a photo could be next. Have you seen them? Only £25 ish (okay not pennies, but I am excited about it anyway)!

That polaroid pogo printer looks fantastic! Must get one.

Lingle, i am not aware of them ... do you have something online i can see? Please help!!!!

We have same time issue with DS (8). There is no concept of having to do something in a certain time, and of course no understanding that needing to do something quickly can be because of the needs of others (little understanding of that at all). Have tried all the 'first this ..., then ...' stuff with no joy. When I forget myself in the morning rush and get stressed with him it only makes matters worse. Any pressure and he retreats under his blanket. Have got the sequence of dressing etc sorted at last, but not keeping 'on task'. However if he needs to get out the house quick to go to his friend's and play on the DS it is amazing how fast he can be - drives me mad.

Ampersand44, you just described DD mad, mad,mad [mami], help help help [DD]

on top of that are DD's needs, she misses cartoons, she misses playground, she misses all the fun stuff etc just because of this damn' thing called time! Who on earth invented the time after all

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/special_needs/895654-the-famous-Moondog-quot-calendar-quot-post-re-teaching-tim e

we tried to gather up some of the ideas into one thread because we got tired of finding the various bizarre places where the gems of moondog's advice were hidden.

I think the thing about getting your DD used to the timer/calendar/clock/whatever in a non-stressful, "neutral" situation with no big consquences is probably quite important, but maybe a SALT-y person will confirm.

Delparadise - gosh how exciting - you must be really thrilled - fabulous that he is starting to be able to orient himself in time.

I wonder if it might be worth me getting your polaroid pogo and taking it into school - I am struggling struggling to get them to understand the concept of visual aids being more than pictographs, as mentioned in my thread yesterday.

lingle, link bookmarked. will print it tonight if DD's diner+get ready for bed will not take longer than i can keep my eyes open for the day thank you

We have found Me Too! Really useful with this - when we are in a hurry we say 'It's a race against time!' and sing the song, which is the only way to make DS hurry.

Wow, lots of great advice. As soon as the builders have gone and the dust is cleared I am going to get some structure into our lives. My problem is we are still waiting confirmed diagnosis, due in next couple of weeks, until then I think there is that little bit of me that is hiding under my own blanket! Also after a month where he has refused to go to school and missed more than he has been we are kind of on our knees. Easter hols now so maybe can get a bit more back on track.
So glad I finally decided to look on Mumsnet, always been a bit wary of 'forums', but there is so much good advice here, and to know others face similar issues makes me feel less alone, and not just a c**p mum .

The Timer Timer does blank overlays. You could put those over the Time Timer to convert from a 1 hour timer to a normal 12 hours clock or whatever incremements you wanted.

You can buy stickers to add things or could just draw them on.