Debate Presentation:

Self Regulation
EDPS 612.03
Alison Lessard
Christina Majcher
Nicole Dickson
Taylor Leslie

Outline
1. What is Self Regulation?
2. Why Self Regulation?
3. Intervention #1: The Incredible 5 Point Scale
a. Program Overview
b. Program Highlights
4. Intervention #2: The Zones of Regulation
a. Program Overview
b. Program Highlights
5. Debate
6. Closing
7. References

What is SelfRegulation?
The ability to stay calmly focused and alert, which often
involves but cannot be reduced to self-control
The better a child is able to stay calmly focused and alert,
the better they are able to integrate diverse sensory
information, assimilate it, and then sequence their
thoughts and actions
Self-regulation nurtures the ability to cope with greater
and greater challenges because it involves arousal states,
emotions, behavior, and as the child grows older
thinking skills
To successfully self-regulate, 3 critical neurological
components must be integrated: sensory processing,
executive functioning, and emotional regulation

Why Self
Regulation?
Poor self regulation abilities lead to higher risk for
peer rejection and low academic achievement
Key components of self regulation predict academic
achievement, before kindergarten, throughout
formal schooling and into adulthood
Research indicates importance of development of
adaptive self regulation in early childhood
The Incredible 5 Point Scale and The Zones of
Regulation are both evidence-based interventions
that target self-regulation

The Incredible 5
Point Scale

Program
Overview
What is the Incredible 5 Point Scale?
Created by teachers and autism resource
specialists, Kari Dunn Buron and Mitzi Curtis
Developed to help children with ASD learn how
to identify and manage their own behaviour and
emotions
At each level a child identifies what each rating
may look like, feel like, and the possible
solutions to control them

Program
Overview
Why use the Incredible 5 Point Scale?

Visual strategy
May teach social understanding and expectations
Self management
Visual reminder
Used to address many issues
social issues
emotional issues
voice volume
meeting and greeting others
Anxiety
Stress Management
Repetitive Behaviors

Program
Overview
How would you use the Incredible 5 Point Scale?

1. Prioritize the feeling, emotion or skill to be

targeted
2. Identify the number of levels
3. Identify possible replacement skills
4. Have the child develop the scale WITH you
5. Use the childs own words

Program
Overview
Simple - can be easily adapted to a scale of 3
depending upon cognitive ability of the child
Objective - feelings are rated as numbers not good
or bad
Flexible - can be adapted for a wide variety of
emotional management, voice levels, anxiety and
even understanding other's behavior and social
awareness
Links actions to emotions - scale can be used to
help students link how they feel with actions to try

Positive #1
Proven effectiveness for those with ASD, ADHD,
Tourettes, and OCD
Developed by educators who specialize in working with
students with ASD
Incorporates concrete, visual method of breaking down
abstract social situations
Uses Carol Grays social story constructs to provide a
simple written description of the problem.

Positive #2
Can be used to address a variety problems related to social
understanding
Sample stories and scales include:
When My Voice Gets Too Big - Voice Scale
When Words Hurt - The Touching and Talking Scale
Helping Alex Meet Friends - The Meeting and Greeting
Others Scale
Touching Rules - My Touching Scale
When My Obsessions Get Too Big - My Obsessive
Index

Positive #3

Can be used in multiple settings, with multiple

individuals, and can be used to address multiple
maladaptive behaviours
Offers flexibility to be used wherever social
problems occur such as: home, school,
workplace, in the community.
Can be adapted to be used by preschoolers to
adults
Can incorporate less numbers depending upon
age level or cognitive ability
Any type of maladaptive behavior can be broken
down into simpler steps

When I Go Out
I love being at home. I
especially love my bedroom
and the family room at my
house. Sometimes I go out
with my parents. Going out
can be fun and stressful.
One place I like to go is the
YMCA. I love to swim and I am
usually a #1 when Im there.
This means I am doing just
great!
Another place I go is church. I
dont like going to church and
sometimes I yell. My mom
and dad get pretty upset
when I yell in church. I might
upset other people too.
Yelling in church is probably a
#5...continues.

My Going Out Scale

5 I need to leave!
4 I need some space
3 Please dont talk
2 I am a little nervous
1 I can handle this!

Positive #4
Requires minimal preparation and materials

Rating

Looks Like

Feels Like

I can try to..

kicking or hitting

my head will
probably explode

Call my mom
Go to my quiet spot

screaming at people
almost hitting

nervous
shaky

Go to see
Mrs. M
Go to my quiet spot

mean face
sometimes rude talk

grumpy
bad mood
I want to cry!

Stay away from kids

who make me upset
breathe/count to 10

nothing unexpected!
following the Group
Plan

calm
good

Remember how it
feels

playing with my
friends

happiness
awesome

Stay that way!

Positive #5
Available in App format
The Autism Help App 5
Point Scale was
developed by the Autism
Society of Minnesota.
Originally designed using
the Incredible 5 point
scale to assist ASD
individuals communicate
without the need to be
verbal during emergency
situations.
Also has a great deal of
flexibility to be used in a
variety of contexts and
situations.

The Zones of
Regulation

The Zones of Regulation

Overview
Designed as a result of too many kids being

disciplined for their behaviour, instead of being

taught skills to control it
Systematic, cognitive behavior approach to
teach self-regulation
Categorizes the way a person may feel
Program teaches students to become aware of
and control their emotions, manage sensory
needs and the ability to problem solve

Goals of the
Program
Teach students to identify their emotions and
the zone they are in
Teach students to use strategies or tools to
stay in a zone or to move to a different zone
Help students build a toolbox of methods such
as calming techniques, cognitive strategies,
and sensory supports that can be used to help
them regulate their behaviour

The Zones of
Regulation
Red Zone

Extremely heightened states of alertness and intense

emotions.
Anger, rage, explosive behavior, devastation Person is out of control

Yellow Zone

Heightened state of alertness; however, one has some

control
Stress, frustration, anxiety, excitement, silliness, the
wiggles, or nervousness

Green Zone

Calm state of alertness.

Happy, focused, content, or ready to learn

Blue Zone

Low states of alertness

The Zones of
Regulation

There are no good or bad zones. All zones represent

states that everyone experiences from time to time.
Zones need to match the situation. This is what the
Zones of Regulation curriculum helps students learn
to do.
Someone can be in more than one zone at a time
and some emotions can fall into more than one

The Positives of
The Zones of Regulation
Addresses underlying deficits in emotional and sensory
regulation, executive functions and social cognition
Incorporates Social Thinking Concepts
Consists of many visuals to teach students
Integrates practices in the field of Autism Spectrum
Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder
(ADHD) into the curriculum
Based on Extensive research in self-regulation (including
sensory regulation, emotional regulation and executive
functioning)
Categorizes the complex feelings a student has and
allows them to easily communicate how they are feeling
itunes App available awarded the Moms Choice

Positive 1
Comprehensive & EvidenceBased

Targets important aspects of self-regulation including

executive functioning, emotional recognition, and
sensory integration
Can be used with individuals with neurobiological and
mental health disorders but also with typically
developing children
Can be used with individuals aged 4 and up
Developed from evidence-based research
Based on research from various programs developed
to address specific difficulties (e.g., ASD, ADHD,
Tourettes syndrome, ODD, conduct disorder,
selective mutism, and anxiety disorders)
Some lessons are interlaced with lessons developed
by Michelle Garcia Winner (Social Thinking)
The Zones was developed with guidance from the

Positive 2
Visual Supports & Tracking
Tools

The curriculum provides numerous appealing

visuals, as well as tools to track student success
and monitor student progress.

Visual Supports & Tracking

Tools

Positive 3
Easy to Use & Adapt

Does not require many resources and any

resources that are required are relatively
inexpensive
Easy to integrate into the classroom (e.g.,
can be administered to the entire class or
individually)
Is taught in naturalistic settings (e.g.,
classroom) using everyday experiences,
which increases student motivation
There is minimal training required and the
program can be implemented by anyone who
works with students
Some accommodations are provided that
allow activities to be adapted to specific

Positive 4
Uses Fun Games & Activities
The Zones uses fun games and activities to
enhance student learning and explore concepts:

Emotion charades
Match the face
Zones Uno
Zones Twister
Zones M&M game
The Zones Bingo
Feelings bean bag toss
Feelings song (for younger children)
Art activities
Video clips

Positive 5
Teaches Useful Techniques &
Strategies
The program teaches
students sensory supports,
calming techniques, and
thinking strategies that can
be applied to a wide range
of situations. Techniques
and strategies include (but
are not limited to)
breathing exercises,
calming sequences, big vs
little problem, inner coach
vs inner critic, etc.

Positive 6
Supplemental App Available
A Supplemental app by
Selosoft, Inc. is available
from the App Store or
iTunes
The app uses a cognitive
behavioral approach
Individuals explore various
calming techniques,
cognitive strategies, and
sensory supports, building
a toolbox of methods to
use to regulate and move
between zones
Students are taken on an
adventure throughout a
town filled with
excitement, rewards, and

Debate
The 5 Point Scale
1. The 5 point scale is
used as 1 of many
strategies in the
Zones of Regulation
2. Can require a higher
level of thinkingthese can be abstract
concepts for some
children
3. Requires
communication and
input from child and

The Zones
1. Recently developed
program with little
empirical research
regarding its
effectiveness
2. May be too childish
for use with older
students
3. Generally designed to
be used with students
who have average to
above average
intelligence

Debate
The 5 Point Scale
4. Difficult to adapt as a
universal level of support.
Best used as a targeted
or individualized
intervention.
5. May not be easy for
everyone to reduce a
social concept or
behavior to 5 steps.

The Zones
4. Requires teacher
discretion to tailor lessons
and activities based on
students needs thus
affecting treatment fidelity
5. Should children use
color words to describe
their emotional state in
place of appropriate
terminology?
6. App is expensive

Wrap Up

VS.

References
Buron, K. D., & Curtis, M. (2003). The incredible 5-point scale:
Assisting students with autism spectrum disorders in
understanding social interactions and controlling their emotional
responses. Shawnee Mission, KS: Autism Asperger Publishing Co.
Kuypers, L.M. (2011). The zones of regulation: A curriculum designed
to foster
self-regulation and emotional control. San Jose, CA: Think Social
Publishing Inc.