Zones of Regulation
Empowering children to understand their feelings
and make choices to figure out what works best for them.
One tool we use across the elementary program is explicitly designed to support social emotional learning, specifically self-awareness around emotions, is the Zones of Regulation framework. Rooted in cognitive behavioral therapy, the framework uses four colors to help individuals identify how they are feeling in the moment given their energy, feelings, and level of alertness.
By understanding how to read their bodies, detect triggers, think about the social context, and consider their reactions, students learn a system for how to increase their ability to regulate their feelings, manage their sensory needs, and become more self-aware and skillful problem solvers.
Our youngest students dove into this concept during the first several weeks of the year.
Managing emotions and sensory needs can be challenging and the Zones approach is a way for children to express how their bodies and brains are feeling.
Essentially, feelings are grouped into four zones- blue (sad, lonely, etc.), green (thankful, happy, proud, good to go), yellow (embarrassed, uneasy, restless, jealous, etc.), and red (bigger feelings where you feel out of control- angry, overly excited, super silly, etc.).
The colors correspond to the street signs/signals-- stop sign (need to stop, you may be harming yourself or others), yield sign (use caution because you’re starting to lose control), rest stop (body is running slow), and green light (ready to learn).
The Early Elementary students gathered together to read books highlighting each zone and then created books reflecting on personal examples that put them in each zone.
If you’re interested in learning more, the Zones of Regulation website is filled with resources.
In addition to making books, our 6, 7 and 8 year olds had fun taking on the following design challenge:
Make a tool, toy, activity, or space that can help you and your friends move from the red, yellow, or blue zone into the ready-to-learn green zone.
“In teaching The Zones, we are building a pathway for recognizing the sensations in our bodies that alert us to our feelings, and then deciding if and how to take care of ourselves in the moment. It’s as simple (and complex) as that.”
Take it Further
Reading list with connection to the Zones. https://zonesofregulation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/The-Zones-Book-Nook-1.pdf
Calming Down and Cooling Off: Helping Children with ADHD Learn to Manage Their Emotions By, Judith Glasser
Learn more about regulation: https://zonesofregulation.com/3380-2/
Helping Students Identify Their Emotions https://www.edutopia.org/article/12-ways-to-help-students-identify-their-emotions
If you’re interested in more, check out this background & updated context from the author of The Zones of Regulation program.
The Zones of Regulation was developed by occupational therapist, Leah Kuypers, after working with countless kids who were often misunderstood and found themselves “in trouble” because of their differences and challenges in managing their feelings and behavior.
She notes,
“As a staff, we found ourselves ill-equipped to take on the social and emotional needs of the students we were tasked to teach and struggled to maintain a safe learning environment for staff and students alike.”
In an effort to reduce disciplinary and exclusionary measures, my main goal was to offer positive and proactive instruction that truly helped my students gain an understanding of their feelings and find adaptive tools and strategies for communication, coping, and wellness. To further that, I wanted to equip myself and my colleagues with new strategies to support social emotional learning, rather than falling back on punitive measures that just weren’t cutting it.
Since the original publication of The Zones of Regulation in 2011, I have had the great privilege of observing how it has been used in classrooms, therapeutic settings, and homes all over the world. Though I was thrilled to see its widespread adoption and use, I was concerned to see some misinterpretation of my intentions and The Zones sometimes being used as a behavioral or compliance model, particularly centered on feeling in, or returning to, the Green Zone. This was never my objective. My mission is to honor all feelings and experiences people have in their bodies, as well as valuing the differences in how we regulate. This approach has been reinforced as I listen, research, and carefully follow the work of thought leaders in the neurodiversity-affirming, anti-bias, and trauma-informed teaching movements and integrate best practices from them.
Some reminders about the intended use and implementation of The Zones of Regulation:
Zones are based on feelings, not behaviors. Let’s take behavior out of this equation. We determine our Zones based on our feeling, our energy, and our internal state of alertness. Our behaviors are impacted by how we manage our Zone. Each of us experience our Zones in our own, unique way, and awareness of these sensations as we relate to each Zone is something we can learn and practice.
All the Zones are OK, and I really mean this. Remembering that our Zone is based on our feelings, it’s OK to be in the Yellow Zone when you feel wiggly after recess or when your clothes just aren’t feeling quite right. It’s OK to come into the classroom in the Blue Zone when you are feeling tired or let down. It’s OK to be in the Red Zone when you feel bullied, or your body feels overwhelmed with sensory stimulation. Feelings are innate, and it is human nature to experience a wide range of feelings; this is something we all are entitled to and is integral to how we teach The Zones of Regulation. With this self-awareness we can explore healthy and adaptive tools to help us regulate with our goals, tasks, and well-being in mind.
The Zones of Regulation is not a compliance-based model. Period. It is a proactive teaching approach that builds awareness of the unique feelings we each have, gives us a common language for connecting and communicating these feelings, and provides us practice with tools and strategies to take care of ourselves. Any model in which learners are rewarded or praised for being in the Green Zone, or shamed for being in the Red, Yellow, or Blue Zone, is a misrepresentation of The Zones of Regulation.
The Green Zone is not the goal. As adults often co-regulating with others, we can support learners in regulating their feelings and Zones with compassion, free of expectations or contingencies for being in, or returning to, the Green Zone. While the Green Zone often gives us a feeling of comfort, calm, and connectedness inside of our bodies, use of The Zones in your setting should not project any value of the Green Zone above the other colored Zones. We have evolved our language to say, “taking care of our Zones,” “managing/regulating our Zones” to ensure learners don’t feel pressure to be in the Green Zone.
How we teach The Zones matters. Given that our Zones represent our feelings, the climate in which it is taught is critically important. We need to create a safe space for all learners to feel comfortable identifying and expressing (or not, if they choose) their feelings and Zones, as well as using their Zones tools if and when they are ready. This work begins with the adult facilitator’s mindset and relationships with learners, as well as the materials they use to teach. I ask that you please take a second look at your visuals and reflect on the imagery and language you are using around feelings and Zones with learners. Make sure your visuals and language communicate that all the Zones are okay! When we set up a culture in which all of our feelings are valid and we all access tools to regulate, we will see successes with our learners; I’ve seen it firsthand.
© 2022 The Zones of Regulation