Zones of Regulation
Week 2
This week we have 2 different concepts that the Advisory groups will be working on as part of our Zones of Regulation curriculum. The students will also be learning a new relaxation technique thatcan be added to their own “toolbox” of strategies.
The Advisory groups will begin to talk about Expected and Unexpected behaviors. Expected behaviors are behaviors that you exhibit that give the people around you good or comfortable thoughts about you. Unexpected behaviors, on the other hand, are behaviors that we engage in that give people uncomfortable thoughts about you. Students will become mindful if they are engaging in expected behaviors for the situation that he/she is in. When talking with your child, discuss who your child has “good thoughts” about. Why does your child have good thoughts about this person? Who does your child have uncomfortable thought about? To tie this into the Zones, ask you child if their own “zone” changed based on the types of thoughts they were having, or may have in the presence of these people.
The second concept that the Advisory groups will be covering is the Size of the Problem. Below you will find the visual that the students will be working with to determine what the size of the problem is, examples of problems, and how our responses should match. We want to start working on the fact that some problems are really big while others are little and can be ignored. Problems require different reactions, emotions, and solutions based on their size. The goal is to work with the students on understanding that their emotional response impacts how others think and feel about them. Below is an overview of the size of the problem:
Little Problems: Problems that only affect one to two people and can be ignored or solved in a matter of minutes. These types of problems are also called “glitches”
Medium Problems: Problems some people share that are able to be resolved in a period of time (time may be minutes or days-but the problem can be resolved)
Catastrophe: Problems that many people share and that have no easy, quick or pleasant solutions. These types of problems are catastrophic.
Size of the Problem / CatastropheRemember the size of your reaction should match the size of the problem! / Big Problem
Family member very ill
Peer pressure to make unsafe choices
Peers making unsafe choices
Family conflict
How big do others see the problem?
How big should your reaction be? / Issue
/ Getting a bad grade after you had worked hard
Caregiver is sick with a bad cold or flu
Glitch
Visual adapted by Leah Kuypers, Donna Brittain and Jill Kuzma for The Zones of Regulation® from the original work of Winner’s Think Social! (2005), pages 44-45,
and Buron and Curtis’ The Incredible 5-Point Scale (2003), Adapted by V.Hopkins, MA, OTR/L for RMS Advisory with input from Guidance and School Psychologist 2017