IMany of the schools I work in have wonderful social emotional programs and strategies and I have learned so much from the social workers there. One tool that is used is the Zones of Regulation. I used this briefly as an outpatient therapist but to date, I have not implemented this with any of my OT students in the schools, because the school social worker's had it covered. School social workers are amazing by the way, I admire all of the ones that I work with for their ability to interact with every student and their ability to teach "strategies". I learned from them that I can tell a student exactly what we're doing...learning strategies. Here is a chart taken from the Zones of Regulation website: Taking this chart into consideration and this new day and age of at home learning, I've been able to look at my own children and decide what "zone" they are in and what strategy they need. Then I decided to tell my kids that they were crabby and needed "quiet time" as a calming strategy. Ask me how that worked out? It didn't necessarily help. I started with my 7 year old who has emotional ups and downs like a teenager, and showed her the colors of the zones and the emotions that fall into each. Then we started with talking about what calms her down and what makes her feel better. I started teaching her that the items we came up with are "strategies". So now when she is acting a certain way I can ask her....what zone do you think you are in right now? How can we get you back to the green zone? Some students will need help to figure out their strategies. As parents you know your child best and you know what tends to help them regulate and get back into that "green" zone. I know there isn't more "time" at home right now with work and school schedules but maybe there's more awareness about the triggers before your child goes into a red zone, or awareness of what strategies seem to get your child back on track. The distance learning link to the Zones website is below, to check out for more information. These are good strategies and tools for all children and even adults who are looking for more awareness into their own emotional regulation. Thanks for reading! LeAnn
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AuthorLeAnn Wald Archives
May 2020
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