Learning ResourcesTime Tracker Visual Timer & Clock - 1 Piece, Classroom Tracker, Alarm Clock, Light Up Timer for Classroom, Visual Tracker

UPDATE (NOV 2013):We had another child in March of 2012 and he has finally reached the age where he is chatting a lot, very interested (in EVERYTHING), can communicate with us (modestly), and we can in turn communicate back to him. I love 18 months old!!!Due to the structure of our home, we decided to setup his crib in our bedroom. It has been working out very well, but in the past couple months he has been waking up at a ridiculous hour (5am or earlier) and will not stay quiet. If I get out of bed and talk to him, cover him up with his blankie, and say "It's night-night time..." he WILL lie there quietly until our alarm goes off or one of us gets up to go to the bathroom. Because of his responsiveness to my chats, I decided to break out our Time Tracker once again. It has been in a drawer since our other Son turned 4 years old and outgrew time outs and sleeping timers.I set the Time Tracker the same way I did for our other Son (12 hrs Green; 50 seconds Yellow; 10 seconds Red...yes, this Boy will sleep from 6:30pm to 6:30am, no problem). On the first and second night we setup the Time Tracker, our Baby Boy thought it was fun to point at and scream. But he soon lost interest in it and now I can turn it on, put him down for sleep, and if he wakes up before the designated time (6:30am) and starts making noise, I walk to his cribside, remind him that "Green Light is Night-Night" and he will honest-to-goodness either go back to sleep or just lay in the crib with his blankie & stuffed animal, sucking his thumb, and stay quiet until the Time Tracker turns Yellow (and then Red). Most times he is awake and starts yelling once the Tracker turns Yellow because he is excited to wake up. But some other times, he falls back asleep and he completely misses the Tracker turning Yellow or Red (no issue there...if he's asleep, we let him sleep!).The Time Tracker has worked for both of our boys and we've definitely gotten our milage out of it considering I bought it back in 2009. I'll probably use it once our youngest is old enough for Time Outs too. And once I pulled the device out of the old junk drawer, I had no problems remembering how to set and reset it...it really is a great device for kids!-------------------------------------------------------------------------After reading many of the negative reviews on the Learning Resource Time Tracker, I was hesitant to buy it thinking it would break right out of the box. Not true at all. In fact, while it is not the most quality product I've ever purchased for my 2 1/2 year old son, it is definitely not the worst. It is what it is...and it does what it does...and it does both very well.I first saw the product on Nanny 911 and I did think about it again until I started having difficulty keeping my son in his time out spot without having to sit right next to him to keep him there. I combined the Time Tracker with the Take Out Time Out mat (overpriced, but cute) and now I hardly have any problems with him finishing his time outs. He thinks time outs are interesting now and he cannot wait to finish and hear the "Time's Up!" announcement so he can play again, while knowing that we are happy with him for doing his duty.While the Time Tracker may not be the easiest thing to program, as others have said, once you do it once it's pretty easy. I have gotten so used to it that I can change the timer from time out, to nap time, to overnight sleep time in less than a minute. I set it to all green on "manual setting" and only make it turn yellow for the last 50 seconds, and red the last 10 seconds. Seriously, those reviewers who say it's difficult are simply techno-phobic or lazy. It's not hard and all...and my son loves knowing that there is a set time on all of his duties. Hearing "Time's Up!" is one of his favorite things now.Finally, again on quality, this is not a toy. Do not let your kids play with it or it will cease to work. Let them see it, touch it, but only once. Tell them it is not a toy and keep it out of reach. It will break if dropped, so my solution is to not drop it. Problem solved.Get this product. It's pretty darn cool...

Perfect for classroom presentations!

(Originally gave this product 2 stars but am revising it to 4--see below)This concept is helpful not only for kids, but for adults on the autism spectrum as well. I am 48 years old and was diagnosed at age 42 with Asperger's. I've made tons of progress since finally finding out what was wrong with me, but one thing that constantly plagues me is transitioning from one activity to another. This timer, once I got the hang of how to program it, was absolutely perfect for me. Something about the green/yellow/red concept and the sounds made more sense to me than plain old timers. I liked knowing that I had five more minutes or three more minutes or whatever. I used this timer constantly and felt like I had so much more control over my life!At first I was so happy that I even brought the timer in to my therapist to show her, because she works with other kids and adults on the spectrum. Tomorrow I will have to tell her that it's not such a great product after all.After 3 1/2 months had gone by, I was using the timer to give myself a 15-minute computer game break and suddenly thought, "It seems like I've been playing my game for an awfully long time." The timer was stuck on red and never timed out, and the digital display was only showing parts of numbers. I tried removing and reinserting the batteries as well as using new batteries, with no success.I am so sad. I miss my timer, but I'm going to try buying a similar one instead of another one just like it.UPDATE: We moved to another house and for some reason I'd put the timer in a box instead of throwing it away. Today (1/11/14) I got it out and decided to see if my husband could fix it. So far, it looks like he did! I asked him what he did to fix it and he said he just put new batteries in it. Strange...I'd put new batteries in it and it didn't work for me. So I guess I recommend trying different sets of new batteries, maybe? Whatever; the important thing is that the timer is once again working and I am upgrading it to 4 stars. I am so glad because I am going to make another attempt to enter the workforce and this will help keep me on track when I am getting ready to leave the house. :)

Bought this for niece who has autism. This timer has helped her learn that she needs to finish a task and help with waiting. The colors are bright and the sound is loud enough to hear across the room. Came with instructions and easy to read and set up. Good for kids and those who are on the spectrum. I can see teachers use this to help students as well. Can be good for adults who don't want to rely on phones or tablets.

This has been a game-changer in my classroom of PreK kids. They understand the warning of the yellow light means to clean up and the red means it's time to transition. I love that I don't have to say so many times what my expectation is. Saves a lot of noise pollution in the classroom!

Breaks after a month and a half - the setting timer functionality stops working (not being able to program a timer) and no amount of restarting will fix it.The lighting functionality comes and goes - if there is an issue with it, open the bottom battery area and remove the button battery and only use the batteries.

If you have a kid who struggles with needing visual timers this timer is great. I know it’s expensive it I would buy it again. My little girls OT therapist told me about this. Best investment