Our Zones of Regulation is designed to foster student self-regulation and emotional control. All classrooms have Zones of Regulation charts which the children use throughout the day.

The Zones of Regulation is an internationally renowned intervention which helps children to manage difficult emotions, known as ‘self-regulation’.

Self-regulation is best described as the best state of alertness for a situation, or the ability to maintain a well-regulated emotional state to cope with everyday stress and to be most available for learning and interacting.

From time to time, all of us (including adults) find it hard to manage strong feelings such as worry, anger, restlessness, fear or tiredness, and this stops us from getting on with our day effectively. Children who feel these emotions often find it hard to learn and concentrate in school. 

The Zones of Regulation aims to teach children strategies to help them to identify their emotions and cope with these feelings so they can get back to feeling calm and ready to learn. These coping strategies are called ‘self- regulation’.

Using the Zones of Regulation as a framework, we aim to help children to:

  • Recognise when they are in the different Zones and learn how to change or manage being in the Zone they are in.
  • Increase their emotional vocabulary so they can explain how they are feeling.
  • Recognise when other people are in different Zones, thus developing better empathy.
  • Develop an insight into what might make them move into the different Zones.
  • Understand that emotions, sensory experiences such as lack of sleep or hunger and their environment might influence which Zone they are in.
  • Develop problem-solving skills and resilience
  • Identify a range of calming and alerting strategies that support them.

What are the different Zones?

 

zones

There are 4 coloured zones to categorise states of alertness and emotional states:

Blue = ‘rest area where you pull over as you are tired and need to recharge’

Green = the person is ‘good to go

Yellow = ‘caution, slow down or take warning’

Red = ‘stop and regain control’

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Important note - No zone is ‘bad’ or ‘good’ and we all experience the different zones at one time or another. It is important to avoid reinforcing the idea that red = bad. Often, we see with our students that they will indicate they’re in the green zone, even if they’re not.

It is important to validate all emotions, and we should be helping our students to identify these emotions.

Tools and Strategies for Regulation

There are multiple tools and strategies that our students can use to self-regulate – and they will be individual to each child. However, it may be useful to think about the types of activities that will help our children to regulate in each zone.

Blue Zone tools:

  • Think about what you might do as an adult to make you feel better when you are sad, tired or bored.
  • This might include talking to a trusted person, breathing, taking a break and relaxing, doing a hobby or importantly, doing some physical exercise.
  • These exercises should wake up our bodies, recharge and activate our senses and regain our focus. Examples may include taking a walk, doing some active movement (think jumping, bouncing or swinging).

Green Zone Tools:

  • Think about the strategies you use to maintain your happiness, alertness in the activity you are engaging in, and calmness.
  • This may include all the activities mentioned above, and also pay attention to the environment you student is in – is it safe, calm and enabling of engagement?

Yellow Zone Tools:

When you see your student starting to become heightened, fidgety, over- excited or unfocussed – try to introduce the following calming strategies to prevent an escalation into the Red Zone (or out of control) – sensory circuit activities – such as

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Red Zone Tools:

Once in the Red Zone, your student will more than likely need to be removed from the situation/classroom, and it is encouraged that they go to a calm and safe place.

Calming strategies that ‘power down’ the emotions your student is feeling, see below examples:

  • Deep breathing
  • Using of a trampoline
  • Rolling on an exercise ball
  • Deep pressure/heavy work activities – punching bag, press ups (risk assess first)
  • Sensory activities – using sensory aids and tools such as squeezy stress balls, weighted blankets etc.
  • Taking a walk in a quiet place
  • Going to a quiet and dark area (dark tent- can use the one in intervention room)
  • Minimise your language when your student is in the red zone – be clear, concise and calm in your tone.
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