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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Calm Guided Meditation

Calm is a guided mindfulness and meditation app that can be used in a lot of different ways.  Each day has a daily calm that provides the user with a focus on how to be more mindful and helps guide the user into recognizing times that cause stress.  Most of the meditations are about 10 minutes but you are able to find ones that are shorter or longer depending on your needs.  There are also different programs for things like sleep, anxiety, stress, self-care, focus, etc.  There are different practices that last between 7 to 21 days that focus on different needs as well which I thought could be helpful for a student or an educator who might be facing certain challenges.  Other features include music that is calming or energizing that lasts a few minutes or over an hour, a collection of sleep stories to help individuals with anxious minds work on their sleep hygiene, and short stretches and yoga moves to help relax the body.  

I believe this practice would be helpful to use in sessions or groups with students because it has been shown to be effective and is fairly simple to practice.  It helps with feelings of disappointment or overwhelming experiences.  Mindfulness has been used with students with ADHD and Autism as well as anxiety, depression, and behavioral challenges. Mindfulness can be used as an empowerment tool for students and help them regulate emotions and build resilience in tough situations.  The creators of Calm state that using mindfulness can help students regulate emotions better, be more alert during learning, have better attention to the task at hand and respond better to the needs of other students. The application has a seven-page instruction manual on how to implement this practice in a school setting as well.

This website has a few options for access, one is limited access which is free to all users.  The second option is that an individual can pay for an annual membership of $59.99 or a lifetime membership for $399.99.  However, there are two options for school social workers, you can sign up through calm health and get a free yearlong subscription for being a social worker or you can sign up through calm schools and get a lifetime membership for free, you just have to get approved.  It can be accessed through your computer, android, or iPhone.  

You can access this website by downloading the app on your iPhone or Android, or by going to: www.calm.com 

Anger Management Groups

Anger Management Groups

This item of interest is based off of a CBT-based anger management curriculum called Healthy Choices. This is geared towards high school students, but can be easily adapted for younger students. The goal of this group is to work towards three social and emotional learning goals: 1A.4a: Analyze how thoughts and emotions affect decision making and responsible behavior. This is achieved through focusing on the A, B, C model of the relationship between events, thoughts and feelings. The second goal it focuses on is: 1A. 3b: Apply strategies to manage stress and motivate successful performance. The focus of this goal is to help teach relaxation techniques, including deep breathing, counting backwards and positive imagery. The last goal is: 2D.3a: Evaluate strategies for preventing and resolving conflicts. In this strategy you will help students be able to use assertiveness and positive decision making to stay out of conflicts.

The format is an 8-week session with small groups of students who either have been identified from your experience, the Dean’s office or a teacher referral. Below is an example of what the 8-week outline resembles.

Session Outline

 Session 1 – Introduction

 Overview of the purpose and goals of group

 Review group rules, expectations, and confidentiality

 Icebreaker Activity

 Pre-Test

 Anger Thermometer

 Introduce Hassle Logs

 Session 2 – Triggers and Cues

 Identifying Triggers (Anger Buttons worksheet from Strategies for Anger Management workbook)

 Identifying Physical Cues (body signs) (Physical Cues to Anger worksheet from SAM workbook)

 Session 3 – Anger Reduction Techniques

 Deep Breathing

 Counting Backwards

 Positive Imagery

 Session 4 – ABCDE Model

 ABCDE of Anger Control

 ABCDE Analysis of Student Examples

 Session 5 – Effective Communication

 Assertiveness Training

 Conflict Resolution

 Session 6 – Skill Building #1

 Dealing with an Accusation

 Keeping Out of Fights

 Session 7 – Skill Building #2

 Dealing with Someone Else’s Anger

 Understanding the Feelings of Others

 Session 8 – Review and Closure

 Review of Past Sessions

 Completion Ceremony

Reference:

http://www.schoolsocialwork.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Anger-managment-group.pdf

Social Stories

What is a Social Story?

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Social Stories are a social learning tool that supports the safe and meaningful exchange of information between parents, professionals, and people with autism of all ages. The people who develop Social Stories are referred to as Authors, and they work on behalf of a child, adolescent, or adult with autism, the Audience.

Authors follow a defined process that begins with gathering information, discovering a topic that ‘fits’ the Audience, and the development of personalized text and illustration. Most frequently associated with short, simple Stories, there are also Social Articles for use with older or more advanced individuals. The Social Story Definition and ten defining characteristics (The Social Story Criteria) guide the development of every Story and result a patient, respectful, and unassuming quality that is the hallmark of the approach. It is that quality that distinguishes genuine Social Stories from social scripts, skill checklists, or ‘social stories’ that do not meet the current the definition.

There is only one definition for the term ‘Social Story’:

A Social Story accurately describes a context, skill, achievement, or concept according to 10 defining criteria. These criteria guide Story research, development, and implementation to ensure an overall patient and supportive quality, and a format, “voice”, content, and learning experience that is descriptive, meaningful, and physically, socially, and emotionally safe for the child, adolescent, or adult with autism.

How are Social Stories Used?

• Safety: Understanding safety may make it easier to follow some rules.
• Tragedies:  What a tragedy is and understanding tragedies on television.
• Discovery of Self and Others:  Each person is one of a kind.
• Advanced Concepts: Stories to address ‘elusive’ topics like stereotypes and resilience.
• Change: Changes in their daily life, including transitions. 

Additional Social Story Information:

Where did Social Stories come from?
The History of Social Stories

Is THIS a Social Story?
It is NOT a Social Story if… An initial screening instrument

How the Social Story Criteria keep pace with experience and research
Social Stories 10.0 – 10.2 Comparison Chart

Simple Thought Record

Item of interest

Simple Thought Record

 A simple thought record is one of the main tools used in Cognitive Behavior Therapy. This Tool Can be used for individual or group sessions. It is used to help break down a problem or situation into smaller parts. First it is important for the client/student to understand the connection between thoughts and feelings: “How the way we think can affect our actions and mood”. Students often need help and practice at identifying the link between thoughts and emotions before they move on to challenging these negative thoughts and replacing them with more helpful/positive thoughts. Some clients might find it helpful to practice identifying Negative Automatics Thoughts using a Simple Thought Record before introducing the process of evidence-gathering and thought challenging. The simple thought record will ideally help identify triggers for anxiety, depression, stress, etc. and help connect thoughts with these feelings. The next steps for a more complex thought record would include alternative and positive ways of thinking and ways you can include them in your life.

Simple thought record

Situation Who, what, when, where?	Thoughts What was going through your mind as you started to feel this way? (thoughts or images)	Feelings What did you feel? Rate your emotions 0-100%