What is the best visual timer for ADHD kids?

What age is appropriate for a visual timer?

What about a digital clock?

We are all aware that young children's' motor skills don't automatically mean they will develop better spatial skills. They can however be taught these skills through activities like puzzle fitting which can in turn improve their spatial understanding.

What to do: Make and review the pictures, as this activity shows. Use the pictures to create a puzzle for your child to see if they can fit the pictures in place.

How to do it: Find a large container or small box and put 12 small pictures in it (or 18). When you have found all of the pictures, show your child how to create a puzzle by cutting and pasting the pictures. Let them choose which picture to start at the top and end at the bottom.

What are the different types of visual timers?

There is a big variety of different types of visual timers.

The three most common are the line, step and ring type. Line type timer are the type where you have a line with time intervals that can be moved. Step type timers are similar to line types but the lines are divided into multiple segments where each segment has a different time interval. Ring type timers are similar to step types but the "segment" lines are continuous until they meet at angle. The last two can use either the same color as the step types or different. Here is a line type in colorless mode: And here is a line type in color mode: Here is a step type in colorless mode: And here is a step type in color mode: And here is a ring type in colorless mode: And here is a ring type in color mode: If your timer is still not working check if your browser is compatible with the chosen type and then try to activate it (if its not automatically done).

What are the benefits of visual timers for kids?

You can try to count to yourself - but you might miss, or your timer might not turn.

You could try counting in your head - which is similar to counting on your fingers - but that's less precise than using a timer. This visual timer app works really well for children. For a visual timer to be effective, it needs to be very colourful. The colours and shapes are designed to make the timer easy to see.

The timer also needs to work on your phone. Many older smart phones won't have a touchscreen so if the timer is going to be your main feature, you need to be able to view the timer and interact with it. Many timer apps have all the features of a visual timer - colour, shape, buttons, digital scale. For example this OneTimer app for mobile is free. But if you press the 'add timer' button, it will ask if you want a regular timer or a timer with numbers shown. Both versions offer the same things.

What happens on start of timer? An important question when deciding which timer is best for your child is what exactly happens at start of timer? Does it start, once the countdown finishes, how long after countdown, how do you stop the timer? If you want a good timer that can be set to a time frame you can read more in section Time frames. A timer that counts down with a big red arrow at the end is useful to help your child to understand how much time is left, so they are unlikely to lose track of the timing! An audio tone will start the timer ticking. You can play a tune of your choice, choose a sound from within the app to match the time remaining or no audio to just start counting. A different type of sound means a new part of the timer to work on. The length of the time left will be shown so you know when you need to turn off your timer.

Your phone starts with it's original time at power-on so you might want a timer where you reset to zero. Why use a visual timer for counting down? Counting down can be good for children. It helps them understand time frames (or fractions) and helps their learning.

What is the best visual timer for ADHD kids?

In my opinion, this is the only visual timer I could recommend to an ADHD adult.

I believe that visual timers (also called timers or "clickers") are the only way your child will learn to use a timer. Most adults with ADHD can't wait until it is time for breakfast and start eating without even noticing the hour. They may not even wake up on their own.

What I have discovered is that your child will learn to be very exact in time; it does matter! You might wonder why I say that. You might assume that when your child asks what time it is, you can simply tell him the time. But I've watched many kids who think that they know something about time. They might ask, for instance: "What time is it now?" or "What time is it?"

The problem is that while they might know the clock has hands and a dial with seconds, they don't really understand that this time might be 9 a., 11:30 a., 2 p., 4 p., 6 p., or 8:30 p.m. They might think, "No problem, I'll just wait until 9:00." But then suddenly your child realizes that it is 9:00 and the moment has passed! It has been 12 minutes since he asked, and there is no longer time to finish the project!

This lack of understanding about time can have negative effects such as procrastination, impulsivity, and sometimes even violence. These behaviors stem from problems in the executive function system of the brain. This system controls self-regulation, so problems in the control center tend to make behavior very difficult to regulate. To avoid these adverse effects, you need a timer that teaches children to be precise and exact in their time sense.

In ADHD, it is important to pay special attention to this aspect of the timing system. Your child may show impatience with his ADHD behaviors because his self-control and self-management have been compromised. You know this because at least one of the four areas in which he struggles is with concentration, and you know how challenging that is for your child. At times, it is as if his whole being has become focused on that single task. He becomes completely absorbed in the task and forgets about everything else.

It is hard to understand and even harder to overcome.