What role do timers play in SAFMEDS practices?

Timers play a crucial role in SAFMEDS practices by helping to ensure consistency in the timing of sessions. This consistency is important because it allows for reliable measurement of student performance over time, enabling educators to effectively monitor progress. Setting a specific time for each practice session creates a standardized environment in which students can focus on fluency and mastery of the material.

By using timers, educators can establish uniform practice conditions, ensuring each student has the same amount of time to work on their SAFMEDS cards during each session. This controlled timing helps reduce variability that might otherwise affect the assessment of student progress. In this way, regular and consistent timing can lead to better data collection and more accurate evaluations of a student's learning and retention of information, which is integral to the effectiveness of the SAFMEDS approach.