Lesson 5: Coping Skills

Self-Regulation and Dysregulation

The following information is pulled from the article "Self-Regulation and School Readiness."[1]

Self-regulation is the bodies ability to respond and interact with the environment. I think back to one of my students with poor self-regulation skills and would like to share this story as it is a perfect example of dysregulation (not being able to regulate ones emotions).

Story- For the purpose of this story, we will call this young learner Bob. Bob came into school with an LOL Doll as he always does. The class rule is that the doll stays in your backpack until earning time. Bob took the doll out instead of doing his morning work. I told Bob how cool I thought the doll was and that we could look at it more during earning. I could tell that he did not want to out it away so I gave him a choice. "Bob, we can't have our LOL out while we are learning. So I will give you a choice. You can put it in your backpack, seat sack, or on my desk where you could see it all day." Bob must have hated all three of these choices because he immediately started screaming, crying and charged at my trying to punch, kick, bit, and scratch me. Bob screamed about the LOL Doll for 45 minutes. All of our usual tools were not working to Bring bob back to baseline (we will talk more about baseline later). Finally, the tantrum ended when Bob threw up because he got his body so worked up. Now, was this reaction really about that LOL? Probably not. But his reaction to the environment is a great example of a student displaying dysregulation.

Now, you might think that reaction is ridiculous. We sometimes use the phrase "Did your reaction match the size of the problem?" The answer is simple, no, it did not. However, if this student had the tools to self-regulate, it would not have taken him throwing up to return back to Green Zone (baseline).

Return to Baseline

When thinking about baseline, I think about Green Zone. This is the "Good to go," Zone and the Zone where we strive to be. When students are moved out of the green zone, they use Coping Skills to return to green or "baseline."

Baseline is more of a medical or psychological term that describes a normal state. Everyone's normal may look a little different, though. Think about a learner and what they may look like like when they are happy (not overly happy) and ready to learn. That would be their baseline.

Coping skills

Ever feel yourself get upset while out with friends so you take a quick run to the bathroom to gather yourself? You just used a coping skill. Coping skills are an important life-skill, however, some students need to be explicitly taught when and how to use them. Keep in mind that these are skills that will need to be carried with them through adulthood, so be sure to teach these coping skills with SAFE in mind.

Coping Skill	Blue	Green	Yellow	Red
Deep Breathing	yes	yes	yes	With adult assistance
Coloring	yes	yes	yes with caution	no
Yoga	yes	yes	yes	Maybe
Mindfullness	yes	yes	yes	Maybe
Play-dough	yes	yes	yes	no
Fidget Toys	yes	yes	yes	no
Maze Tracing	yes	yes	yes	yes
Calming Corner	yes	yes	yes	yes
Tearing old paper	yes	yes	yes	yes
Going for a walk	yes	yes	yes	No
Getting A drink of water	yes	yes	yes	With adult supervision
Talking with a friend	yes	yes	yes	Depends on the learner/situation

While I am not going to go in depth for each of these coping skills, I do want to touch on a few things.

First, it is important to not that when a child is in red zone, it may be incredibly difficult for them to use these skills on their own. Red zone is typically a time where a learner needs extra support returning to baseline. Helping the learner take seep breaths would be a good way to use a coping skill while in red zone.

'Next, Calming corner, fidget toys and play-dough may not be something that can happen when they are out eating at a restaurant or older in life. The part to remember with these is what we are actually teaching with these tools. A calming corner, is a space where they can go alone to just get a few minutes away (the bathroom situation we spoke about earlier). We are teaching the skill of walking to a safe place instead of doing something irrational (screaming, cursing, kicking, etc). Fidget toys and play-dough allow students to feel that playing with something to re-focus their time might be helpful. Do you ever find yourself fidgeting with your phone or key when you are nervous? This is the same idea. Tearing up paper may seem like an odd one, but it is also helpful. I have had plenty of students that destroy property when mad. Instead of saying "Don't do that," I give them a replacement skill of tearing up old paper that I keep for those types of moments.

Finally Teaching breathing. I know, it sounds silly, but teaching different breathing techniques is so helpful! We tell students to take a deep breathe, but do they really know how? Follow this video to learn a breathing technique.

Check for Understanding

Coping skills are an important tool to keep in our personal toolbox. We use them to return to baseline.

Fill out the Google form answering questions regarding coping skills. [2]

When finished, move on to the next lesson. Lesson 6: Creating a lesson on coping skills