What is Emotional Regulation?
Emotional regulation can be defined as the ability to identify, understand, and manage emotions in a healthy and adaptive way. For children, this can be a complex process as they are still learning to recognize and express their feelings. Emotional regulation can help children respond to challenging situations without becoming overwhelmed or engaging in un-safe behaviours.
Importance of Emotional Regulation for Children
o Social Skills: Children with well-developed emotional regulation skills find it easier to build positive relationships with peers and adults. They can communicate their feelings effectively, leading to better interactions and reduced conflicts.
o School Performance: When children are feeling regulated, they are able to better focus on activities when in a classroom setting and have the tools to help cope with academic pressures and frustrations, leading to improved learning outcomes.
o Coping with Stress: Life can be full of stressors, even for children. Emotional regulation provides children with coping mechanisms to handle stress and anxiety practically.
o Behaviour Management: Children who struggle with emotional regulation are more prone to outbursts, tantrums, and aggressive behaviour. Developing this skill may assist them in making better decisions when responding to different environmental situations and stimuli.
How can Occupational Therapy assist with Emotional Regulation?
At Bambini, we play an important role in assisting children with emotional regulation challenges by incorporating different strategies and techniques to help children develop important emotional regulation skills that can be put into practice. Some of these strategies include:
The Zones of Regulation Program:
o The Zones of Regulation uses four colour-coded zones to represent different emotional states (the blue zone, red zone, yellow zone, and green zone). Categorizing emotions into different zones, helps children be able to recognise and label their feelings which is an important step in emotional regulation.
o The Zones also provide practical strategies that can help with managing their emotional states more effectively, which may include taking a break, using sensory tools, problem solving, seeking support from others or deep breathing. The Zones can also teach children how to better recognise the emotional circumstances of others around them based on their behaviours and expressions. This approach can aid in better social interactions and enhance communication skills. Lastly, children are able to learn how to identify situations or triggers that may often lead to specific emotional responses. By having this awareness, they are able to implement strategies to proactively prevent becoming dysregulated.
o A Zones check in is a helpful tool we use at Bambini Health to assist children in identifying how they are feeling on that day by asking them what zone they are in. Please find an example of a zones check in below.
Sensory Integration: This can involve using sensory-based activities to help children understand and process their emotions. These activities can involve touch, movement, or visual stimuli to stimulate positive responses and help regulate their emotions. An example of this may include using proprioceptive support such as:
o A body sock
o Weighted cushions
o Deep pressure activities such as rolling a therapy ball on top of the child’s trunk/legs/arms
o Blowing bubbles.
Play Therapy: Play can allow children to express themselves and explore their emotions in a safe environment. Occupational therapists often use play therapy to observe emotional responses and guide children towards healthier ways of expressing their emotions.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this blog post! Please feel free to leave any comments, questions or to share your own experiences.
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