The Zones of Regulation (2011) was developed by Occupational Therapist (Leah Kuypers) as a way to help children learn to regulate their emotions by:

• Helping to recognise their feelings
• Helping to communicate their feelings 
• Finding tools and strategies to help cope with their feelings

The Zones place feelings and states of alertness into 4 colour zones:

BLUE: This can be described as having a low state of alertness. We don’t have much energy and it is really hard to do things.

Some blue feelings are sick, tired, sad, hurt, bored and shy.

GREEN: We are in a regulated state of alertness.

Some green feelings are calm, happy, proud, ready to learn, relaxed, focused and okay.

YELLOW: We are in a heightened state of alertness but we are able to control it.

Some yellow feelings are worried, silly, excited, annoyed, nervous, frustrated.

RED: This is when we feel we are about to lose our cool or explode. 

We are in an extremely heightened state of alertness and have very intense feelings.

Some feelings are terrified, mad, angry, elated or mean.

We all experience each of the Zones at one time or another and by helping students learn how to regulate their emotions, they will be able to achieve the preferred state of alertness for the situation they are in.

With this in mind, St Joseph’s Primary School has introduced the Zones of Regulation (2011) throughout the school.

Each classroom has a display of each zone, the feelings associated with the zone and possible things students can do to try to regulate back to the Green Zone.

Staff are working with students to identify the strategies that are helpful for them and which strategies work best in various settings - such as in the classroom, on the playground, in assembly etc.

Throughout the year we will continue to place information about the Zones of Regulation (2011) in the newsletter so that you can practice similar strategies at home.

THE ZONES OF REGULATION: A CONCEPT TO FOSTER SELF-REGULATION & EMOTIONAL CONTROL

Kelly Russell
School Counsellor

(all information taken from: The Zones of Regulation (2011) by Leah Kuypers)