When your child is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), it can be hard to know where to find tools to help him or her with daily life. A wealth of information is available, particularly online, but where to begin? Here are five tested and true items that can help you help your child.

Sensory Fix Backpack

This backpack is filled with items that can help with sensory overload issues, from fidget bracelets to playdough to chewable jewelry. Designed to provide tools for self regulation, fidgeting and tactile input, oral stimulation and deep pressure, the backpack is a great tool for when you and your child are on the go.

Noise-Cancelling Headphones

Your child may crave quiet, but the world does not always comply. For those times, try noise-cancelling headphones, which can create an oasis of quiet in the midst of too much noise. Look for child-sized headphones with soft earpieces, for the most comfortable fit.

Weighted Compression Vest

Compression vests can help to gently calm a fidgeting or fretful child, soothing them with pressure that feels like a hug. The vests can be adjusted for more weight, and can even be worn under clothing.

Time Timer

Using a timer can help your child in many ways, from providing structure to making transitions easier. The Time Timer, with its red disk that disappears as time elapses, is particularly good for children with ASD, as it provides a visual representation of time passing. To read more about Time Timer for children with ASD, click here.

Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew by Ellen Notbohm

This bestseller, written by the mother of children with ASD, conveys a lot of information about autism in a clear, easy-to-understand way. An excellent resource for parents who wish they could see the world through the eyes of their child with ASD.

With these five tools to get you started, you’ll be on track to discover more resources that fit your child’s particular needs. And remember to look for resources and support for yourself, too—you aren’t alone.

We were honored when our friends at Google Ventures profiled Time Timer in their new book, Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days. They use the patented timer in Google Ventures innovation sessions to mark small chunks of time, giving an added sense of focus and urgency.

“It’s visible to everyone in the room in a way that no phone or iPad app could ever be,” author Jake Knapp explains. “And unlike with a traditional clock, no math is required to figure out how much time is remaining. When time is visible, it becomes very easy to understand and discuss.” 

We agree that the Time Timer is a great tool for businesses and innovation, which is why we encourage you to participate in Google Venture’s Sprint Week. Just plan a sprint, as described in the book, for the week of April 18-22. By signing up at this link, you’ll receive exclusive daily videos from the Sprint team in your inbox, along with access to an online Q&A with Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky. 

And don’t forget the Time Timer! To help celebrate the first Sprint Week, we are offering 25% off the Time Timer MOD Sprint Edition with the code SPRINTWEEK*. For instant Time Timer access before Sprint Week, download the Time Timer app. 

Watch this to learn more about the Time Timer MOD Sprint Edition. 

*Coupon good through 4/30. Valid only on website sales from TimeTimer.com to the U.S. and select territories.

Five Ways A Timer Can Hack your Spring Cleaning

Spring cleaning is a ritual for many, a way to welcome the warmer weather by purging our households of dirt and clutter. But while the end result—a sparkling, clean home—is enjoyable, the process of cleaning may be anything but fun. Here are five ways using a timer can help you with your spring cleaning tasks.

1.  Get the kids to help by making it a game.

 Spring cleaning is a great time to teach your children responsibility for their own spaces by having them clean their rooms. You can make it a game by setting a timer (like the Time Timer ® ) for an appropriate amount of time and encouraging them to have their entire room cleaned up before time runs out. Reward them with a treat, such as 30 minutes of screen time, when they complete the task.

2. Keep track of your cleaning process.

Have a cleaner, such as a soap scum remover, that needs to set for 10-15 minutes before you can start scrubbing? Use a timer to help you keep track of the time, and get the best results from all of your cleaning products.

3. Break up the day by timing each activity.

Set the timer for the amount of time it should take you to complete each activity—30 minutes for dusting, 20 for vacuuming, etc. Are you the competitive type? See if you can even beat the clock if you need a challenge.

4. Give yourself a break!

After you’ve spent an hour working, take a short break. Set the timer, grab a drink and a snack, check Facebook, relax. Or, just make sure your kids are still alive.

5. Maintain your newly clean house with weekly cleaning.

Each week after spring cleaning, set the timer for one hour, and have the whole family pitch in to clean the house. Even young kids can sort socks, or empty trash cans. Divide up the tasks, and make it a true team effort.

Need the timer to get through your spring cleaning? The Time Timer MOD is the perfect fit—available in new colors at timetimer.com/mod.

All children learn differently, but this is especially true for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). As you discover the tools and techniques that work best for your child, everyday life can be challenging. So, what can you do to help your child with ASD feel happier and be more productive? ASD experts and caregivers (who are experts in their own right!) weigh in below.

Add Structure to Their Days by Using a Timer

Children with ASD depend on structure to get through their days. Using a timer during activities can help provide that sense of structure, but it’s difficult for any child, and especially one with ASD, to understand the abstract concept of time. Let’s face it, there’s a world of difference between looking at a clock and being able to say that it’s 3 o’clock and understanding “how long” 5 minutes is. This type of abstract thinking is difficult for all children, and can create a level of heightened anxiety for those with ASD.                                                    

According to Dr. Olive Healy, widely acclaimed for her work in the treatment of challenging behaviors and a lecturer in psychology at the National University of Ireland in Galway, “The passage of time is often difficult for such individuals to comprehend, and this can further impact expectation of an event, waiting for an activity to begin or end, waiting to receive a reward, sharing with others, apprehensiveness, impulsivity, on-task behavior and self-control.”

Time Timer®, with its simple red disk that disappears as time elapses, allows children to see and understand the passage of time. When the red disk vanishes, time is up. When children can look and see for themselves how much time they have left to complete a task, it empowers them to take ownership of their routines and transitions.

“Our grandson, who is six and has Asperger’s Syndrome, knew straight away how it worked!” one grandmother told us. “Alex has great trouble knowing how much time has elapsed and the visual movement of the time passing is an enormous help to him.”

Reduce Disruptive Behavior During Waiting Periods

As adults we can communicate using “later,” “soon,” “not now,” “in a few minutes” and a whole range of similar words and phrases. To a child with ASD, this might as well be someone speaking in a foreign language. It isn’t surprising that the results are so often confusion, frustration and even anger. But how do you translate an abstraction like elapsed time to a child when most adults would be hard-pressed to explain it to another adult? Setting the Time Timer® while you wait can help ease the frustration.

Dr. Olive Healy says, “Often persons with ASD will display very challenging behavior because they do not have the means to understand a delay in accessing reinforcement. They cannot understand how long they have to wait and they may not have any means of verbally mediating this time delay. This can be a huge challenge to teachers, parents and peers. It is a natural and everyday occurrence to have to wait, share, or experience delays or disruptions in activities. It is a vital skill for any person with ASD to learn how to deal effectively with such demands. Using the Time Timer can improve the quality of life of such individuals by allowing them to visually mediate the passage of time very easily. The Time Timer® is a device that has the potential to change the lives of many children, adolescents and adults.”

Minimize the Anxiety of Transitions

What about going from one activity to another? When it’s time for someone else’s turn with the game or computer, do your children or your students peacefully trade places or are you constantly forced to step in? Transitions can be even more difficult for children with ASD who depend on structure, as well as those prone to hyper-focus. They can grow anxious when required to transition from one activity to the next. Using the Time Timer® can significantly reduce this stress.                                   

Dr. Howard Shane, Director of the Center of Communications Enhancement at Children’s Hospital, Boston, focuses on enhancing the expression of people with communication disorders, particularly those with ASD. “We find that when children who have trouble with temporal concept can see time visually, it helps them to organize their day. If they can see how long they’re going to be working in a particular activity, this will often reduce their disruptive behavior,” he says.

One mother told us, “My autistic son has learned better turn taking and sharing by having the Time Timer® count down how much time he has to play with the computer or watch his favorite TV show.”              

Dr. Diane Twachtman-Cullen is a licensed speech-language pathologist specializing in ASD, and is the editor-in-chief of Autism Spectrum Quarterly. She says, “As a professional in the autism community, I am particularly thankful for the unassuming, yet ingenious device known as the Time Timer®, for it has helped to make the world more predictable, understandable, and comfortable for individuals with ASD. Clearly, that’s something for which we can all be thankful!”

Do you dread dinnertime, with meals that drag on and on as your child does everything except eat? What about transitioning from one activity to another? How often do they wear you down until you give in to “five more minutes?” Have you found yourself totally out of things to try, having exhausted reason, bribery, pleading, yelling...?

Children with ADHD often fight rules and limits—but at the same time, they need structure. Using a timer can relieve the feeling of constraint, but it’s difficult for children (especially those with ADHD) to understand the abstract concept of time. Let’s face it, there’s a world of difference between looking at a clock and being able to say that’s 3 o’clock and understanding “how long” 5 minutes is.

As adults we can communicate using “later,” “soon,” “not now,” “in a few minutes” and a whole range of similar words and phrases. But how do you translate an abstraction like elapsed time to a child when most adults would be hard-pressed to explain it to another adult? To a child, especially one with any sort of special needs or learning challenge, this might as well be someone speaking in a foreign language. Is it really surprising that the results are so often confusion, frustration and even anger?

Time Timer®, with its simple red disk that disappears as time elapses, allows children to see and understand the passage of time. When the red disk vanishes, time is up. When children can look and see for themselves how much time they have left to complete a task, it empowers them to take ownership of their routines and transitions. Here are some ways that you can use Time Timer® to help motivate children with ADD/ADHD.                                                       

Make Mealtime Manageable

Mealtime can turn into a marathon contest to see who can outwait the other. Too often, the results are frustration and anger for all, not to mention the guilt that many parents feel because they can’t get their child to eat healthy foods. Setting the Time Timer® during meals can change the dynamics, and the focus shifts to finishing the meal before the red disk disappears.

Leave the House On Time

Have you ever found yourself chasing the school bus down the street or getting to work late yourself because you couldn’t get your kids out the door on time in the morning? If it helps, you’re not alone! This happens in homes everywhere as children are told “you have to be ready in 15 minutes” when they don’t have the ability to judge how long that is. The Time Timer® lets your child “see” exactly how much time they have. The less red there is, the closer it is to being time to go.

“My son used a Time Timer® in his classroom and he really wanted me to get one for use at home,” one mother told us. “He has ADHD as well as some other developmental delays and so we are always looking for motivating ways to keep him on task. I decided to try it. It was AWESOME for keeping him moving in the morning to get ready for school. I would set it for each task....10 minutes to get dressed, 10 minutes to eat breakfast, etc. And it really kept him on schedule and out the door without the constant prodding from Mom.”

Establish Routines

Whether it’s brushing their teeth or lights out and going to sleep, it’s universal that kids resist routines. Reduce the confrontations and stress with the Time Timer®. Simply set the timer for the time you want those teeth brushed or their head on the pillow, and let them know that they need to finish by the time the red disk is gone. Then watch them take responsibility for making it happen.

Endure Chores and Other Tedious Activities

No matter what our age, some things we have to do are simply not much fun. Being able to watch the red disappear on the Time Timer® can go a long way in preventing boredom from setting in during those activities that a child doesn’t particularly enjoy. It can strengthen focus and also reduce their anxiety by reminding them that the end is literally in sight.

Ease Transitions

As adults, we understand that we can’t drive clear across town for lunch because we only have 30 minutes or that we need to finish our shopping soon or we could find a parking ticket on our windshield. We take this for granted. Because children struggle with this concept, there are often conflicts when it comes to transitioning from one activity to another. Until they develop the ability to internalize the concept of elapsed time, the visual display of the Time Timer® can greatly reduce their anxiety and frustration. “This is the best way I have found to get my ADHD child to smoothly transition from one activity to the next at home,” says Katya Broderick. “I would highly recommend this to any parent who has children who have a hard time making transitions!!!”

In celebration of Read Across America Day today, did you know that Time Timer wrote a book all about understanding time?  Check it out by clicking here.

It’s never easy to say “goodbye”. That applies to family members and friends. Our homes. Jobs. A favorite city or region. And, yes, the same can be said for bidding farewell to a year.  2015 has been a busy one! Doesn’t it seem like it was just packed with one attention-grabbing headline after another?

Of course, far too many of those “breaking news” banners were about sad events, but this year gave us a lot to be excited and cheer about, also. American Pharoah became the first Triple Crown winner in almost four decades. Scientists are pretty sure they have discovered clear signs of water on Mars. Where do you suppose that will lead us? The U.S. women’s soccer team inspired generations of youngsters by winning its first Cup in sixteen years. And the incomparable Adele wowed the world by saying “hello” after a long, four-year silence!

Do you believe in miracles? Many of our favorite holiday movies incorporate some sort of miraculous element --- George Bailey and Ebenezer Scrooge are transported through time by angels, Rudolf’s shiny nose cuts through the winter fog like a mega-laser and Tom Hanks takes us on a magical journey with the Polar Express. Christmas is the season for miracles!

Humbug, you say? Not so fast…

Maybe we can’t actually prove that all of the other reindeer loved Rudolf after he saved Christmas, but we know for a fact that a genuine Christmas miracle took place in 1914 on the frozen battlefields of Belgium during World War I. Starting on Christmas Eve, totally unsanctioned by their superiors, soldiers from the German army and Allied Forces started singing carols back and forth to each other. Soon, they began laying down their weapons and meeting to shake hands between their respective trenches. It is said that some even exchanged small gifts while others played an impromptu game of soccer.

From a raging battle to sharing plum pudding --- how else could we explain this than the miracle of the Christmas spirit?

It’s important to remember that this time of year is about more than the number of packages under the tree or the size of our bonus checks. It’s even about more than the gathering of our families and friends. This is peace on earth and good will toward men time! The Christmas miracle wraps around each and every one of us with joy, hope and love.

From the Time Timer family to yours, wishing you all the magic of the season! Have a safe and joyous holiday!

Two common themes I see in my organizing and productivity clients are the absence or underdevelopment of:

• self-trust with regard to their own decision-making skills
• interpersonal trust with family members.

It can be difficult to move forward if you don’t trust yourself or the people who matter most to you. Change is not easy, but stagnation is neither energizing nor motivating. It is time to break the cycle of mistrust.

Five trust-building steps

1. Be consistent: Make the commitment to be consistent when you establish an organizing or time-management system. If something has to be done on a daily basis, do it. Routines are habit forming when you are consistent. And when you are consistent, you are reliable and your family will learn to trust your decisions because they know that you will follow through on your promises.
2. Set an example: Being a leader in your family means setting an example, no matter how hard is.
3. Tell the truth: Admit to yourself and to your family when things are not going as planned with new systems. Just because you started with plan A doesn’t mean you can’t make adjustments or changes. It’s OK for children to see that grown-ups are comfortable making mistakes and are willing to make changes to improve things.
4. Find value in each family member: Identify each family member’s organizing and time-management strengths. Be open to asking for and accepting help and advice. Family unity and trust is built when everyone feel valued.
5. Untie the apron strings: Be there to guide and help when an organizing or time-management system is set up and avoid micromanaging once everything is running as smoothly as possible. Trust that you have instilled in your children the ability to trust themselves and their decision-making and execution skills.

Image courtesy of Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Paula Berman is the owner of Paula Berman Organizing  located in the San Francisco Bay Area. She blogs  on productivity and organization. She has a special interest in working with families and individuals who are looking to declutter and streamline their lives.

Routines are repeated actions that have to be done on a daily basis. These actions usually, but not always, have to be followed in a sequence. Examples of routines include morning routines (wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, put school lunch in backpack, etc.) and evening routines (eat dinner, bath, put on pajamas, brush teeth, read a story, etc.)
Routines are comforting to children – they begin to internalize what needs to be done and what is expected of them.

Challenge: Many children understand what is expected of them, but they cannot remember all the required steps. Time eludes them and what should take five minutes ends up taking 25 minutes and tasks are often not successfully completed.

Solution: Use the Time Timer PLUS in conjunction with a mini routine binder
When children’s to-do checklists are not located in the room where they are doing each task, it is difficult for them to know what to do next in their routines. They have to constantly return to where the checklist is located, which essentially wastes time. And more often than not, children get distracted on their way to review their checklists. The Time Timer PLUS in combination with a portable mini binder solves this problem.

You will need:

• Time Timer PLUS
• a mini binder
• sheet protectors
• photos/pictures representing each task that has to be completed (a page for every task)
  The advantages of these two time-management systems are that they are both: (a) visual, and (b) portable.

 © Images: Image of Time Timer PLUS courtesy of Time Timer, image of mini binder courtesy of Paula Berman Organizing [www.paulabermanorganizing.com]

Paula Berman is the owner of Paula Berman Organizing  located in the San Francisco Bay Area. She blogs  on productivity and organization. She has a special interest in working with families and individuals who are looking to declutter and streamline their lives.

Stress, frustration, disillusionment, and disappointment are the costs of inconsistency that people pay when they say, “I’ll do it later,” “I’ll do it when I can,” “It’s too much to do now,” and “I don’t have time to do it.”

As a professional organizer and productivity consultant, I am quickly able to assess a space and organize it for maximum usage and efficiency. I can identify and recommend the most appropriate storage and organizing solutions based on functionality and a client’s needs. However, the true test of my success in a space comes when clients are easily able to implement the time-management strategies that are an integral part of maintaining newly organized spaces and systems.
 

Example:
In the home: A large laundry hamper overflowing with clothes and clothes in various stages of dirty and clean in piles all over the house.
Client’s time-management challenge: Never enough time to do laundry.
 
Solutions:
* A smaller laundry hamper that holds only one load of laundry.
* A timer that the client sets when she starts the washing process. The washer and dryer are at the back of the house and the timer reminds her when it is time to move the clothes from the washer to the dryer or to take the clothes out of the dryer.
 
Why these solutions work for this client:
When the client sees the laundry hamper is full, she puts the laundry into the washing machine. When the laundry has been washed and dried, she is quickly able to put the clothes away as there is not a dauntingly large mountain of clothing.
 
Client’s review: “I had no idea that replacing my large laundry hamper with one that holds a single load of laundry would solve my time-management and laundry problems!”
 
Time management take-aways
1. Use visual reminders: The client has a visual reminder of when the laundry has to be done: when she sees the new hamper is full, she knows it is time to do the laundry. Her organizing rule is “No overflowing hampers allowed!” The client isn’t overwhelmed by having to do multiple loads of laundry that were previously contained in the large hamper.
2. Break tasks into smaller manageable chunks of time. The client can put the laundry into the washer/dryer when she gets home from work and by the time she has put her children to bed, she can quickly fold and put away the load  of clothing. Doing the laundry is broken up into a chunk of time for each step.
3. Set a timer. Timers help you keep track of time. When things are busy at home or at work and you are distracted, a visual and auditory reminders help you keep on task.
 
© Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net 
 
Paula Berman is the owner of Paula Berman Organizing located in the San Francisco Bay Area. She blogs on productivity and organization. She has a special interest in working with families and individuals who are looking to declutter and streamline their lives.

Let’s talk about time. That’s a new one, huh? I know, we talk about time management tools, teaching youngsters the concept of time and how empowering all of that is a lot. Quite a lot. But, we’re in the time business --- that’s what we do. And we’re very proud of the impact we have on the lives of those who use our timers.

But…what’s the point of learning how to understand and manage time? To get more done in a world that increasingly demands that we do more and more? To be able to manage transitions and juggle our schedules so that we can fit into a world that sometimes feels like if it spins any faster we’re all going to fly off into space?

Sure, those things are necessary and some of them even important, but they’re only a means to an end. There has to be a deeper reason than simply being more efficient so that we can take on extra projects. There’s an old saying that goes something like “do a little more each day and a little more will be expected of you each day”. That may be well and good if you’re competing for a promotion or starting a business but it shouldn’t be the way we normally run our lives.

Maybe it being just a week before Christmas is bringing this into even sharper focus. The “reason for the season”, as many like to say, is ultimately love and there is no greater gift we can give those we love than our time. And that is the point of learning how to manage our schedules and activities. We do it so that we will have time to focus on what really matters --- our relationships with those we care about.

We often say that Time Timers allow you to give someone the “gift of time” --- which, in this case, is not only the “means” but also the “end”. How awesome is that?

We’re in the final countdown! If you’re in holiday stress mode, just stop. Take a few moments and step away from thoughts of all you “have” to do and think about what you “want” to do and who you want to do it with. (FYI --- I’ll just mention that your handy Time Timer is perfect for helping you take these little breaks.) Make time for those things and let the rest go. Sometimes, less can truly ending up giving us more.

Enjoy this week! It only comes around once a year. And make every moment of it count!