TIME TIMER 8 inch Visual Timer - 60 Minute Desk Countdown Clock with Dry Erase Activity Card, Also Magnetic - for Kids Classroom, Homeschooling Study Tool, Task Reminder, Home and Kitchen Timer

This timer has been a game-changer for our daily routines. The visual countdown makes it so much easier for my autistic child to understand how much time is left, which reduces stress and helps transitions go smoothly. It’s quiet, easy to see from across the room, and built very well. We use it for everything — from homeschool lessons to bedtime routines. Highly recommend it to any parent of a neurodiverse child!

Works well. Perfect for my class, can be hung

As an elementary teacher with ADHD, I couldn't live without this! I do a lot of subbing now that I've retired, and the Time Timer is invaluable. It helps me pace my lesson, and I always know how much time I have left to cover various concepts. It helps students know how long they have to complete an assignment. This product is much better made than the old one; it's more durable, streamlined, and has an alarm. Love this product!

This timer is large, has a pull out stand, is magnetic, has a buzzer (haven’t used it since my kid is sensitive to sounds), counts down time the way a real clock moves, and is my kid’s nemesis. He hates when I use it, but it does help him measure time better. I think his patience improves when we use it, and his anxiety isn’t as bad since he knows when to expect lunch to end, or how long before iPad time, etc. This timer has been dropped onto a tile floor (I won’t mention my husband’s name), and it works fine. I like the little legs that pull out for the stand, so that I can move it to where it is more visible. It is hard to deny that you didn’t know time was running out when it is clearly sitting in front of your face. If your life is on a timer like mine, I would get one.

I use this timer every time I am at a ferret shelter cleaning cages while the ferrets have 45-minute playtimes. I had a similar timer, but it stopped working after 9 months. It would get to a few minutes left and stop. I enjoy using this timer so much I did not hesitate to buy another. Hopefully, this one lasts longer.

Although I like the advertised features of this timer (e.g. silence-able alarm, fold-out legs, and built-in magnets), unfortunately, the mechanism inside is not reliable. Mine stopped working reliably after a couple months of use. In case it's helpful to others, I've taken mine apart and posted some photos to show how it works inside. Basically, there's a stepper that activates once per second and drives a train of gears. The final gear (underneath the white plastic assembly) is linked to the output shaft via a friction clutch / spring. That's what allows the knob to be turned from the outside without damaging the internal mechanism. (There's also a mechanical stop/catch that should help prevent turning the knob below zero.) However, it seems that one has to be extremely gentle when turning the knob to actually avoid damaging the internal mechanism. Perhaps that's because if the friction clutch were loosened it wouldn't be strong enough to turn the knob & wheel assembly. Other notes: * The 2 AA batteries are wired in parallel and the internal module (HD-1688 Sheng Bang -- similar to the one shown here: http://www.shengbang.com/quartz4-show-487.html) has a holder for a single AA battery. This suggests to me that if you try running it with a single AA cell instead it will stop once the battery is partly drained. For fun, I tested with a series configuration instead (using a up to 4VDC from an external power supply, actually) and found that the ticking seemed to continue just fine, only the beeper was too loud. So if you think the problem is due to not having enough torque to turn the wheel feel free to try re-wiring the batteries to be in series, but that probably won't fix the problem. * It took me a little while to figure out how to get the knob off. There is an outer cover piece that can be removed, which reveals a screw inside that holds it to the module inside. * To open the clock, remove the 6 screws on the back side. 2 are obvious, 2 are under the feet, and 2 are under the magnets. * I gave this product a low "easy to use" rating because it is not easy to use **without breaking**

This has become an essential part of the daily life of our son. Because he is five he does not take reference to actual clocks yet. So without this product he had to rely on dad's indication whether or not his time limitation for something was reached. I could tell that he did not like that. To him it always felt like his dad was cutting him short or he was not given enough in the first place. But by using this product we are visually agreeing together on time and he is given an objective tool to refer to. Now when his time is over he accepts that whatever duration we agreed on is over and he keeps his promises like stop watching Youtube (which is banned most of the time anyway), play time is over and brushing his teeth, getting out of bath etc. etc. You can use this product many ways and the best way I found is to "reward" him with more time. On most ocassions I indicate a certain red area first, let's say equivalent to 20 minutes. Then I tell him that he can put a little more time himself because he did a great job at x today. However I am not actually granting him anything extra because I initially gave him less time then I had planned anyway but for him it feels like I am rewarding him. By doing this he almost never protests for more time when the alarm sounds. He feels like he already negotiated some time from his dad beforehand and therefor we are both winners in this deal. Without this tool, time limitations felt like a punishment. Not anymore. I am taking 1 star away though because the carton squares with the cartoon activities that you can cut out of the box are absolutely rubbish and unusable. They do not fit on top of the clock.

This timer has been wonderful for helping the boys see the passage of time and prepare for transitions. I love that the audible part of the alarm can be turned on or off. The cardboard symbols are cute, but start to fall apart from the kids trying to fit them in the groove on the top of the timer. The little write and wipe board fits nicely though and is much more durable. I’m hoping over time this will help the kiddos get a better sense of time. But for now it works as a nice visual cue. We have definitely had fewer arguments about “time to go” or “time to stop”, etc.