CHILDREN ’ S SERVICES FEATURE
The aim of this block of group therapy sessions was to familiarise the young people with the programme ’ s language and concepts and then support them in identifying triggers for changes in their own emotions .
Through this work , they become able to identify positive strategies to help them to self-regulate in class and around school settings . The concepts taught as part of the group intervention were also reinforced by the class team .
All the weekly sessions were co-delivered between the class teacher and myself . In this way , the education staff were able to rapidly learn the language , concepts and strategies of the programme through my demonstration and guidance .
Another class , with eight primary aged students , rolled the programme out at the same time . This group was run solely by the class teacher . The two groups ran at the same time , as I could not physically run them both .
I provided an hour of training to the teacher before she delivered the programme , and also met up with her once a week to supervise her delivery of the programme and to review feedback on how the lessons were going .
Following the completion of the block of sessions , the teacher was glowing in her praise of the improvement seen in the students ’ ability to quickly pick up the concepts and be able to articulate their emotions .
One pupil , who had always struggled to express his frustration was able to say : ‘ I am in the red zone , please can I go to the gym and run until I am back in the green zone ?’ The teacher even adapted the Zones of Regulation worksheets to fit the needs of her class ( pictured ).
In the class I taught , I found the programme and lesson plans easy to use . Differentiation and tailoring the content to specific pupils was quite straightforward . The programme offers many different resources within the various lessons , such as videos , worksheets , poster making , which supports students ’ engagement in the process .
In terms of incidents of behaviours that challenge , these were higher in class during the 12 weeks before the programme was introduced than during the 12 weeks that the programme was being delivered . So , based on our experience of the programme , it appears to be effective in reducing the incidents of behaviour ’ s that challenge that have their basis in emotional regulation .
Of course , there are other reasons for behaviours that challenge , and I did not manage to make them all disappear . In addition , due to the global coronavirus pandemic , the school was shut for 13 weeks after the programme was completed , so we were unable to look at frequency of incidents after the intervention .
The greatest benefit of the programme , as delivered in The Rise School , was that at the end , each pupil has their own , bespoke toolkit poster to refer to when they are feeling – sad , anxious , or out of control .
They choose the strategy to help them , which they know works , as they have already tried it out during previous lessons . The whole programme strikes a balance between strategies that are easy
Example of ZoR strategy used ( reproduced with permission )
to explain and implement , but also with a comprehensive set of concepts underpinning it .
We found that the programme brings together the benefits of sensory , behavioural and mindfulness / wellbeing interventions , which may hold cost saving implications . Zones of Regulation is a readymade programme , so it does not take time to prepare resources and it is easy to teach and train staff on its concepts and implementation .
The group format of the programme renders it cheaper than oneto-one behaviour and wellbeing support , and crucially , quicker than a referral to local child and adolescent mental health services .
It is more cost effective than personalised sensory diets designed by an occupational therapist charging an hourly rate , or supplied by the NHS . It is also more easily accessible and more cost-effective than employing a school-based wellbeing / mindfulness practitioner or sending education staff / teachers off for training on identifying and implementing emotional regulation strategies for pupils with autism .
I found the programme was easy to explain to my colleagues from education , behaviour , speech and language therapy and psychology . This is because it is designed from concepts and language already familiar to their disciplines .
It uses theories from sensory integration , executive function and cognitive control of behaviour , visual scaffolds and visual teaching , social thinking concepts and vocabulary , and social mapping and the incredible five-point scale .
The big caveat is that we still await large scale research to evidence the efficacy of the programme compared with other more traditional interventions . However , given the continued limited resources in public services , which is only set to increase in the postpandemic world , this programme is one that all therapists working in schools could consider having in their toolkit .
References
Kuypers L ( 2011 ) The zones of regulation : A curriculum designed to foster self-regulation and emotional control . Social Thinking : Santa Clarita , CA
Matthew Gomes , occupational therapist , The Rise School , Feltham , email : matthew . gomes @ theriseschool . com
OTnews December 2020 47