In this episode we are going to be talking about reminders and cues- why they are important and why they are going to help you, especially with the boys in your class. 

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1. Give students a 5 minute reminder when moving from one task to another.

I do not know if you have ever had this experience, where you have got a student who is working and you have asked students to pack up, go on to the next activity and then they continue to work. This happens a lot  with boys. Boys get very task- focused and so sometimes, they do not want to stop when you have asked them to stop. 

The reason for this is that a great many students  do not feel like stopping midway or mid-sentence or mid project because it really causes them a great deal of stress. They feel the need to finish what they are doing to make sure that they complete the task satisfactorily.

One of the ways that you can avoid the delay when switching from one task to another, is by giving them wind up time or giving them time to prepare to end the task. If you say “Ok, that is it,” they are going to need a few more minutes to just adjust to the new paradigm, but if you say “In five minutes we are going to be wrapping it up,” it gives them time to think about how they can finish.” At the last minute say, “Finish what you are doing, it is time to put your pencils down”. By giving them that wrap up time they are already preparing their mind for it and so this is like a cue for the end of a particular segment. This can really help boys, in particular, to finish one task and start a new one.

2. Give Visual Reminders or Cues

You can also give visual reminders or cues. If you have given multiple instructions to students in your class, it is really good to write them up on the board or give them a piece of paper with the same instruction. A lot of students will miss multiple instructions. They might hear the first one but then tune out or they will be thinking about the first one so they do not catch the second or third one. So if you give them a visual reminder, just say “If you forget, look on the board or look on the sheet of paper;” then that will help them to continue working without any difficulty.

3. Use a Timer 

Timers are another way of helping to remind or cue, if you want students to work within a particular time frame. Putting a timer up on the board or putting it up on the Powerpoint, will be a really powerful way of keeping them on task. This is especially true for students that maybe work slowly or students that maybe have a tendency to waste time. When they know that there is a timer it becomes the authority in the room. You do not have to chase them because they are watching the timer and if they are competitive, the timer can be really helpful to hurry them along and help them to get their work done in a timely fashion.

4. Use Hand Expressions or Hand Cues

Some other cues and reminders that you can use are hand expressions or hand cues. Have some hand signals that relate to different things in the classroom.  If you want them to raise their hand when they speak and let’s say they call out; instead of saying it, just look at them and raise your hand so that it jogs their memory to also put their hand up.  If you see them across the room and they are watching you and maybe they are starting to misbehave, just do a hand signal, that shows them that you see them. That is enough. This gives them a reminder that their behavior is inappropriate.

5. Give them a Plan Upfront

Another cue that can be helpful is giving them a plan upfront, so they know that starting the day with this is what is happening. Explain by saying, “Today we are going to be doing this in the first session and this in the second session etc”. When children have an idea of what is coming up in their own head, they can plan out how their day is going to go.

Sometimes you can put that timetable up on the wall as a visual. For example, “At 10 o’clock this is the activity we are doing, at 11 o’clock we are doing Maths, then lunch is at 12:30, then we have Science after lunch” etc. So just have a visual cue that they can reference at all times, especially for autistic children. Sometimes they can get a bit stressed about knowing what is coming next and so if you have got that visual cue on the wall, it helps them to regulate themselves and to keep themselves under control. 

What are some cues that you use or what are some reminders that you use in your classroom ? I would love to hear from you. Why don’t you put it in the comments and tell me how you use cues and reminders to keep your students on task and to help them stay focused and working. 

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