Visual Timer and Transition Warning Cards

About this resource

EVERYTHING INSIDE — 23 pages, 231 type-in fields

• 4 timer-stage cue cards (Just Started, Almost Done, Time's Up, All Done), 2 inches square, printed as two full sets (8 cut pieces) on one sheet, so a spare set is always on hand — in order from beginning to end, each with its own concrete anchor picture
• A Timer Stages Reference Chart: all four stages taught together on one poster, numbered 1–4, with a one-line "used for" caption under each
• A Transition Warning Board that prints the whole four-stage timeline once, with a token spot under every stage so a student points to, or places a token, a coin or a paperclip on, the stage that matches where the transition is right now, plus a quick transition table to log stages before the full log
• Two desk-size copies of the transition board on one sheet, for a small group table or another room
• Every reference chart and stage card printed twice — a full-color set and a black-and-white ink-saver set
• A detail table naming, in separate columns, what each card's picture shows and what the stage is used for
• 12 blank timer cards with a type-in line, to build a spare, a replacement, or a custom timer for one specific activity
• A how-to page: before the first transition, the four moves every time a stage changes, how to decide which transitions to track, how long to show each stage, when a transition does not go as planned
• A Transition Log (16 rows: one row per transition stage shown, the activity or transition name, the time, which stage was displayed, and notes on what happened)
• A weekly roll-up (12 weeks) counting total stages shown per week
• A filled example — an invented student, one school day on the log and three weeks on the roll-up, every number re-counted from its own row
• A family page with a small take-home timeline chart and a week of home transition tracking
• A hand-off page so a paraprofessional or a general education teacher runs the same board the same way, with the same transition timings written in
• A phrase bank: 22 lines in 6 groups (spoken words for each stage, written starters for the log, the roll-up and the note home)
• A storage and binder label sheet: 12 labels and a spine strip
• Start Here, a contents page with page thumbnails, and a "what's next" back page

Most transition warnings on this shelf are a static chart with no board and no data behind it. This one matches the four-stage timer to a warning board that prints the whole timeline at once — point to it or move a token as time passes — with a practice log and a weekly roll-up behind it, so a transition shows up as a line on a page a case manager can bring to a meeting.

The Four Timer Stages And Their Anchor Pictures

• Just Started (Stage 1) — a stopwatch, shown when the activity or transition is beginning
• Almost Done (Stage 2) — an hourglass with sand still flowing, shown when time is running out with a little time left
• Time's Up (Stage 3) — an hourglass with all the sand at the bottom, shown when the activity or transition is ending right now
• All Done (Stage 4) — a mantelpiece clock, shown after the transition is complete or the activity has finished

Every picture is a plain, concrete object — a stopwatch, a flowing hourglass, a full hourglass, a mantelpiece clock — and was rendered and read at print size in color AND in the black-and-white set before it went on a card, side by side with the other four, to confirm none of the four is confused with another. Cards are 2 inches square.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

It is a fillable PDF: type into the transition board, the practice log, the roll-up, the family page, the hand-off page and the blank cards, or print and use a pen. The chart and card pages print on cardstock or plain paper; the cards cut along dashed lines. It works offline with no account or subscription. It is NOT an editable online slideshow or word-processor document.

It is a way to teach four transition-warning stages in pictures and keep a record of which transitions got a timer warning. It is not a behavior plan, a clinical finding, or a program of any kind, and it promises no outcome. It carries no prompt hierarchy, fading schedule or mastery rule. Which transitions get a warning, and how long each stage should show, is your team's own plan — this file supplies the chart, the warning board, and a place to record what stages were shown, nothing about what timing to use or which transitions to pick. The notes field throughout is a blank for your team's own observation of what happened during the transition.

Who This Is For

Special education teachers, paraprofessionals and classroom teachers preparing students for schedule changes and transitions, case managers who need that preparation to show up as data, and the families who get the home page sent home.

More In The Collection

Part of the Visual Supports Collection, alongside Voice Level Volume Visual Chart, Calm-Down Choice Cards for Special Education, Feelings Chart and Check-In Cards, and Core Vocabulary Communication Board (AAC); more picture-card sets are being added to the collection regularly, all on the same cards-plus-data shape.

Pictures (color pages): Noto Emoji by Google, Apache License 2.0. Pictures (ink-saver pages): Fluent Emoji, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, MIT License.