It's Too Loud and I Can't Sit Still! The Zones of Regulation in the Kindergarten Classroom

Thank you to Michele Matthew, OTR/L for sharing her experiences and collaborating on this post.

As a school based occupational therapist, self-regulation is one of the skills I am most often working on. Helping students attend to the classroom teacher, remain seated for circle time activities, and manage their emotional state are all frequent parts of my day.  One tool that I frequently use to address these needs is the Zones of Regulation program. Children learn to identify  body feelings and relate them to a colored zone. Then they learn to use “tools”, to modify how they are feeling, so that they can move out of a “zone” that isn’t working. For example, a child might learn to use deep breaths when feeling “yellow”, or very silly or excited, to modify his or her zone in order to sit quietly and listen. The Zones curriculum contains many simple and fun activities to help kids learn the vocabulary of emotions and body feelings, the zone an emotion or body feeling is associated with, and the tools that can be used for changing the zone or state of regulation. I am often able to use the concepts in the curriculum, combined with my own creativity, to make learning tools that are especially personalized to my student's needs, interests, and abilities.

I work with my student and the teacher to determine what “tools” might be helpful when he is feeling stressed or wiggly (in the Yellow Zone). We provide calming activities throughout the day to help him prepare for, and take a break from, challenging activities such as circle time, or standing in line. This child calls these tools his “exercises”, and loves to choose from giving himself squeezes, taking a break in quiet corner with a book, tossing heavy bean bags into a bucket or making sure he gets a lot of swinging and climbing during recess. The teacher and OT collaborate on a regular basis to make sure the tools are effective and fitting with the child's needs and the classroom structure and culture.

Overall, I find the Zones of Regulation to be a helpful and flexible tool to help children of all ages and abilities manage their emotions and sensory challenges so they can participate more fully in the classroom and in life. 

Stay tuned for a future post when we will talk about implementing the Zones at for the classroom as a whole rather than just a single student.

If you would like more information you can visit www.zonesofregulation.com. If you would like to attend a 1 day training on August 25th visit www.ghcot.com/continuing-education/ to register.