Emotional Regulation is a critical skill. Many students struggle with this skill, but in particular, emotional regulation is a challenge for individuals with ASD and ADHD.
There are many different tools for teaching emotional regulation. One of my personal favorites is the Zones of Regulation, which was developed by Leah Kuypers. (If you haven’t hear of this one, definitely check it out.
An Overview
We can’t spend one hour on emotional regulation and expect that our students will be able to handle all of the intense feelings that come their way. Managing emotions takes time, and usually involves several steps.
1-Identify emotions. Before they are able to deal with the emotions they are experiencing, students must be able to identify them. This can be really challenging to teach, but teaching it generally begins with helping the student to make connections between their emotions and the way their body feels.
Having students map out specific physical sensations they experience while having an emotion is a great way to personalize their understanding!
2-Identify possible coping strategies: After students are able to identify how they are feeling, they can make a decision about the best way to cope with those emotions. (Depending on the level of the child, it may be important to reassure the child that the goal isn’t always to feel happy, but to remain safe. They may need to learn to deal with anxiety.)
For some students, it might be helpful to play into their special interests in order to get more buy-in and understanding. The visual below is something I created for a student who loves navigation and maps.
Visuals which are portable and can be ready-to-use can be especially helpful to maintain consistency. The calm-down cards shown below can be printed out and used at school, in the home, or in the community.
3-Follow Through: The best thing that an adult can do to support a child (or another adult) dealing with strong emotions is to help them follow through with their tools. It can be easy for anyone to wallow in their strong emotions (and sometimes acknowledging and just sitting with it is the best thing we can do!).
But for some individuals, strong emotions can lead to dangerous situations. Having strategies to calm down can keep everyone safe.
Benefits of Teaching Emotional Regulation
The most obvious benefit is an individual who is able to communicate their wants and needs in an effective manner. In a classroom, it could also look like less disruptions, and more positive peer to peer interactions. Emotional regulation leads to higher self-esteem and more positive relationships all around.
A person who has emotional regulation skills is also more likely to have more empathy. Because they understand their own emotions better, they are more likely to understand the emotional needs of those around them.
If you’re teaching emotional regulation and looking for ready-to-go resources to help you with this, I’ve got you. I’ve created lots of different resources designed to help students manage their emotions. View them in my TPT store →