What is Self-Regulation?
|
Self-Regulation refers to the ability to stay calm and alert in different situations in order to enhance growth. Effective self-regulation requires one to recognize and respond to various stress levels.
Why is Self-Regulation important? Self-regulation nurtures the ability to cope with greater and greater challenges because it involves arousal states, emotions, behaviour, and coping skills. Self-regulation starts with reframing a child's behaviour and seeing the meaning of the behaviour. There's no simple recipe for what helps a child self-regulate. Children are all different and their needs are constantly changing to the point where what worked last week may not work today. Therefore, it is important to know why the student is acting the way he or she is acting and have strategies and resources to help the student self-regulate. |
The Science Behind It
The Limbic System - "The Emotional Brain"
The limbic system is the source of our strong emotions and urges. It plays a critical role in the formation of memories and the emotional associations that get attached to those memories - positive as well as negative. Love, desire, fear, shame, anger, and trauma share a neurological home base here. |
The Triune Brain
According to this model, we actually have three distinct brains, each of which evolved at a different time in our evolutionary past which are layered on top of one another. The "newest" brain, the neocortex supports higher order functions like language, thinking, emotional cues, and self-control. |
The Brain and Stress
When our bodies are under stress, our executive system shuts down as our body prepares to enter fight our flight mode (our body's response to perceived threat or danger). During fight or flight mode, the parasympathetic nervous system releases hormones like adrenaline and cortisol that cause changes to occur throughout the body.
Some of these changes include:
All of these changes prepare our bodies for immediate action; they are preparing us to flee, freeze, or fight. These adaptive bodily responses are designed to keep us alive. But what happens when our bodies prepare to fight or flight in situations that are not a threat to our survival?
When our bodies are under stress, our executive system shuts down as our body prepares to enter fight our flight mode (our body's response to perceived threat or danger). During fight or flight mode, the parasympathetic nervous system releases hormones like adrenaline and cortisol that cause changes to occur throughout the body.
Some of these changes include:
- Increases heart rate
- Slowing digestion
- Tense muscles
- Narrow vision
- Perspiration
- Sensitive hearing
- Shunting blood flow to major muscle groups
All of these changes prepare our bodies for immediate action; they are preparing us to flee, freeze, or fight. These adaptive bodily responses are designed to keep us alive. But what happens when our bodies prepare to fight or flight in situations that are not a threat to our survival?
The Downside to Fight or Flight
As the image above points out, when the "worry alarm" is triggered, the older (more emotional) brain takes over. That means the newer (more logical brain) is put on hold. This is important in situations that threaten our survival, but it makes it difficult to think rationally in situations that do not threaten our survival.
As the image above points out, when the "worry alarm" is triggered, the older (more emotional) brain takes over. That means the newer (more logical brain) is put on hold. This is important in situations that threaten our survival, but it makes it difficult to think rationally in situations that do not threaten our survival.
There are many situations that cause us fear, stress, and/or anxiety that certainly do not threaten our survival, and that is where the five domains come in.
The Five Domains
There can be stress in five areas. 1) Biological Inadequate nutrition, sleep, or exercise, noise, sights, touch, smells, and other kinds of stimuli; pollution, allergens and extreme heat and cold. Signs of Stress: Low energy or lethargy; hyperactivity; difficulty making transitions between active and less active activities; chronic stomachaches or headaches; sensitivity to noise or sound, which may include both the volume and the tone of the teacher's voice; difficulty sitting on hard surfaces or sitting still at all for more than a few minutes; physical clumsiness or difficulty with fine motor skills such as holding a pencil. 2) Emotional Parents fighting at home, disagreement with a friend at recess, disappointment from the outcome of a situation that did not go as planned. 3) Cognitive Limited awareness of internal and/or external stimuli; sensory information (such as visual, auditory, or tactile) that they child has trouble picking up; too much information or too many steps for the child to handle; information presented too quickly or too slowly; information that's too abstract or presuppose more basic concepts that the child hasn't mastered yet, and requiring a child to focus for longer than he or she is able to. Signs of Stress: Attention problems, learning difficulties, poor self-awareness, problems transitioning between tasks or dealing with frustration, and poor motivation. 4) Social Stressors include confusing or demanding social situations, interpersonal conflicts, being the victim of or even just witnessing aggression, and the social conflict that result from not understanding the impact on others of one's own actions. Signs of Stress: Trouble making or sustaining friendships, difficulty in group activities or conversation; difficulty understanding social cues, being excluded or withdrawing from a social involvement; social aggression or intimidation; and being bullied or bullying others. 5) Prosocial Includes qualities of empathy, selflessness, internal standards and values, collective engagement and behaviour, and social responsibility. Stressors include having to deal with other people's strong emotions, being asked to put the needs of others ahead of one's own, and tension between personal and peer values. Signs of Stress: Lack of empathy, overwhelmed by dominant personalities in a group, or swept up by ideas that run contrary to the child's own moral or behaviour standards. |
What can teachers do?
According to Dr. Stuart Shanker, the author of "Self-Reg," there are five steps that can help children experience what "calm" feels like and learn how to access or create that state when he or she feels the need. 1. Reframing the Behaviour involves learning how to distinguish between misbehaviour and stress behaviour and understanding the meaning of behaviours that you would otherwise find disturbing or irritating. Generally, children who are under too much stress are unable to express their feelings with words, but they show it in their behaviour. Reframing a child's behaviour instantly changes the dynamic and opens the way for lasting change. 2. Identify the stressors. Ask, "Why now?" In the context of a classroom there are many hidden stressors. Some examples may include:
4. Reflect - The ultimate goal is to become aware of what is causing the child to become overstressed, not just the symptoms. 5. Respond. Figure out what brings the child back into a clam state. |