The Zones of Regulation

My second item of interest is a book called The Zones of Regulation which is a curriculum designed to foster self-regulation and emotional control. The curriculum's learning activities are presented in 18 lessons. The Zones of Regulation is a conceptual framework is designed to be taught by anyone who works with students who struggle with self-regulation. This curriculum is used to teach students: how to identify their feelings and levels of alertness, effective regulation tools, when and how to use the tools, problem solve positive solutions, understand how their behaviors influence others' thoughts and feelings. This can include, but not limited to special education and regular education teachers, occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists, psychologists, counselors, social workers, and parents.

I decided to share this curriculum because it can help us as social workers teach clients how to learn to express what they are feeling and explore their reactions and behavior. For instance, social workers can use this as a check-in. It is suggested to use and introduce the concept of the zones with the wall posters for a visual. A social worker can share the four zones and describe how it would be used during their session and have the client express how their brain and body feels before and after the session.

When a person is in a blue zone, their body is running slow, such as when you are tired, sick, sad or bored. The green zone is described to be as a green street light, meaning "good to go". If a person is in the green zone a person might feel happy, calm and focused. The yellow zone is compared to a caution sign meaning to slow down. A person in this zone may feel frustrated, overwhelmed, silly, excited, anxious or surprised. When someone is in the red zone, they might be out of control meaning; feeling extreme emotions such as terror, uncontrolled anger, and aggression. In this zone, you have trouble making smart choices and must stop and take a breather. This curriculum also promotes learning sensory and perspective-taking strategies to encourage self-regulation in a variety of scenarios.

In the context of my internship at District 104, my supervisor and I plan to use this curriculum material when working with students.  This serves as a great tool because we can share with teachers and parents to help students identify what they are feeling and learn how to self-regulate. This curriculum is appropriate for all ages and can be tailored for students and groups if necessary.

 I hope this is helpful to you and your practice! Below is an image of the book! I highly recommend.

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