Your Therapy Source Magazine for Pediatric Therapists September 2016 | Page 25

SELF REGULATION SKILLS AT SCHOOL

Self-regulation skills at school require the ability to tolerate sensations, situations and distress
and form appropriate responses. Simply stated, it is the ability to control emotions, thinking,
behavior and motor actions in different situations. In children, self-regulation matures just like
other developmental processes. Children get older and learn to think before they act. Research
indicates that self-regulation in children is a predictor of academic abilities. Children with
higher levels of self-regulation have achieved higher scores in reading, vocabulary and math. In
addition, some research has shown that the ability for young children to self-regulate is
associated with higher, future education levels.
Obviously, self-regulation skills at school is a super hot topic when school begins. Students are
expected to control their actions in large group settings, small groups, transitions, independent
work time, recess, the lunchroom and more. When students struggle in the area of selfregulation it can result in loss of instructional time due to unacceptable behaviors. Teachers
frequently rely on school based occupational therapists and school based physical therapists to
help students learn how to self-regulate. The Self Regulation Skills Curriculum – Move Work
Breathe was created by a pediatric OT to help school wide in the development of self-regulation
skills. It includes everything you need to start a school wide self-regulation skill
curriculum. This will help to put all providers on the same page when teaching self-regulation
skills. Start the school year off with everyone working together rather than fixing it after the
fact. This curriculum is all set to go to help you train staff, develop goals, collect data, create
self-regulation plans and more!

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