The Zones of Regulation is a curriculum to help students gain skills in the area of self regulation. Self-regulation can be defined as self control, self management, and impulse control. It is the best state of alertness of both the body and emotions for the specific situation. A higher state of alertness can be beneficial when a student is on the playground or in a competitive game, while a lower state is required for the classroom. The lessons in the Zones are designed to help students recognize when they are in the different zones as well as learn how to use strategies to change or stay in the zone they are in. Students will increase their emotional vocabulary, gain skills in reading people’s facial expressions, perspective about how others see and react to their behavior, insight into events that trigger their behavior, calming and alerting strategies, and problem solving skills.
Students will learn the skills more quickly and apply them in many situations by doing the following:
*use the language and talk about the concepts of the Zones. Make comments aloud so the student understands it is natural that we all experience the different zones and use strategies to regulate ourselves. For example, “This is frustrating and getting me into my yellow zone. I need to use a tool to calm down. I will take some slow breaths.”
*Point out observations of the zones to help gain awareness of their zones.
*Talk about what zone is “expected” in different situations or how a zone may be “unexpected”.
*Show interest in learning about a student’s triggers and zone tools.
*Reinforce students frequently for being in the expected zone, rather than only pointing out when the zone is unexpected.
It is important to note that everyone experiences all of the zones – the Red and Yellow zones are not “bad” zones. All of the zones are expected at one time or another. The zones of regulation are intended to be neutral and not communicate judgement.
*use the language and talk about the concepts of the Zones. Make comments aloud so the student understands it is natural that we all experience the different zones and use strategies to regulate ourselves. For example, “This is frustrating and getting me into my yellow zone. I need to use a tool to calm down. I will take some slow breaths.”
*Point out observations of the zones to help gain awareness of their zones.
*Talk about what zone is “expected” in different situations or how a zone may be “unexpected”.
*Show interest in learning about a student’s triggers and zone tools.
*Reinforce students frequently for being in the expected zone, rather than only pointing out when the zone is unexpected.
It is important to note that everyone experiences all of the zones – the Red and Yellow zones are not “bad” zones. All of the zones are expected at one time or another. The zones of regulation are intended to be neutral and not communicate judgement.
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