1. Emotional Regulation in the Classroom
Jennifer Rodecki, M.Ed., BCBA (RYT-200 Sept 2017)

2. Developmental Trauma Multiple types of trauma
Events occur during key times for brain development
Impacts nervous system, heart rate variability, and brain development

3. What Counts As “Trauma”
Abuse (emotional, verbal, sexual, physical)
Witnessing trauma
Divorce
Abandonment
Accidents
etc…

4. What Happens to the Brain
Sympathetic Nervous System vs Parasympathetic Nervous System
Heart Rate Varialility
Difficulty controlling the “fear” response

5. In the Classroom: ADHD Oppositional Defiant Disorder Mood Disorders
Aggression
Attachment Issues
Deficits in Academics (specifically reading comprehension)

6. Breathwork, Mindfulness, & Relaxation Strategies
Using mindfulness in the classroom can decrease problem behaviors and increase student engagement
Brings students’ attention to their personal behavior
Increases student responsibility for their behavior
Promotes better social and emotional development
Students acknowledge and understand emotions as they are occurring, which enables them to make a better decision on how to handle those emotions.
Themes can include: anger, compassion, kindness, relaxation, sadness, etc.
Rodecki 2017

7. Belly Breathing
Have students put their hand on their belly or use a “belly buddy”
Tell them to breathe deep into their belly and watch their hand or belly buddy rise and fall
You can use a couple of students to model
Belly Buddy Examples: rocks, Beanie Babies, stuffed animals, puppets
Rodecki 2017

8. Lion’s Breath Used to release energy and emotions in the body
Brings down anxiety, anger, etc.
Can be good for a calm down corner or for the entire class
How it works:
Deep breath in through your nose
Stick out your tongue
Force all of the air out of your mouth

9. Bumble Bee Breath Used to decrease anxiety by lengthening exhales
Great for calming an entire class
How it works:
Inhale through the nose
Exhale by “humming” through the mouth, making a buzzing noise

10. Calm Down Jars
Students shake the jar when they are feeling angry or upset. They watch the jar and take deep breaths until the glitter settles back down to the bottom. This provides visual sensory input and helps the mind calm down.
Rodecki 2017

11. How to Make Calm Down Jars
What you’ll need:
Container (plastic works best for little ones)
Glitter Glue
Loose Glitter
Hot Water
Hot Glue Gun
Add glitter glue to the hot water and shake
Add loose glitter to mixture and shake
Hot glue the lid closed
Rodecki 2017

12. Feather Breath Use a fluffy craft feather
Have students breathe in through their nose to “smell” the feather
Have students breathe out through their nose and watch the feather dance
Rodecki 2017

13. Focus 5 Tell students to give you their “Focus 5”
Students touch thumb to pinky and breathe in and out
Students touch thumb to ring finger and breathe in and out
Students touch thumb to middle finger and breathe in and out
Students touch thumb to pointer finger and breathe in and out
Students give a thumbs up and breathe in and out to show that they are ready
Rodecki 2017

14. The Incredible 5-Point Scale
Breaks down behaviors into five concrete parts
Helps students identify their emotions and how those emotions can lead to negative behaviors
Can be used to target any behavior
Provides students with visual reminders of more appropriate behaviors
Gives a variety of replacement behaviors and calming techniques that the student can use instead of engaging in negative behaviors
Rodecki 2017

15. Implementing the 5 Point Scale
Choose the target behavior
Can be used for behaviors, anxiety, or emotions
Work with the student to determine the what each level means and how it will be represented visually
Have the student help come up with a list of appropriate behaviors for each level
Practice
Rodecki 2017

16. Examples
Rodecki 2017

17. Examples

18. Examples
Rodecki 2017

19. The Key To Success Pre-teaching Using whole group Consistency
Redirection before explosion

20. Questions?
(Office at CTC)