Emotional Regulation Strategies for Schools - Thrive Alliance Group

School ERI programs: the need and the challenge

If your district is struggling to support students with emotional and behavioral disabilities, you’re not alone. The numbers are growing exponentially in every city and town. Student outcomes are suffering and the stress is affecting teachers, too. 

That’s driving many districts to set up specialized classrooms for students with severe ERI issues. Implementing emotional regulation strategies can improve self-regulation in the classroom and ultimately help these students succeed academically.

The impact of emotional regulation impairment (ERI) on educational outcomes is well established. Yet school staff typically lack the training needed for teaching emotional regulation skills and effectively managing these classrooms.

Thrive has developed and implemented an emotional regulation training workshop in a large New Jersey school district to address this need. Here’s a recap that can help you implement & improve ERI programs in your district.

ERI workshop goals: align staff & teach emotional regulation strategies 

A major obstacle to implementing successful ERI programs across a large school district is getting everyone on the same page. That’s why we brought together district administrators, child study team members, teachers, and paraprofessionals for a half-day workshop. These were our goals:

• Develop a team-oriented mindset and culture. Bringing the whole team together demonstrated that the ERI program is a priority for the district, and that everyone is committed to learning and working together to achieve the same goals.  
• Show everyone the big picture and their roles within it. Paraprofessionals in particular are not usually included in IEP case management. So this was an important opportunity for them to see how that process works, as well as how and why decisions are made. And to understand their specific role and responsibilities in that process.
• Set consistent expectations and a common language. For school staff, change can be daunting because it’s not always clear what exactly they need to do differently. This workshop gave everyone common terms related to emotional regulation for kids & teens, along with well-defined expectations for classroom management.
• Build engagement. Prior to the workshop, we asked participants about their needs to boost motivation and help them get started with a positive mindset.
• Walk the walk. Throughout the workshop, our presenters modeled the techniques, behaviors, and strategies we were teaching the participants, improving their ability to internalize the information.
• Facilitate communication. Although they are in the same classroom, paras and teachers don’t often have the chance to exchange ideas and questions without students present. The same is true of administrators and classroom staff. This workshop provided that opportunity.

ERI workshop content: effective emotional regulation interventions

Here’s a summary of the content we covered in our ERI workshop.

Individualized IEP content for ERI students

Participants learned how to create effective, individualized IEPs for students struggling with emotional regulation issues, including:

• Tips for creating strong PLAAFP reports, such as documenting the impact of a student’s disability, goals and objectives, detailed data, and input from parents and students.
• The difference between accommodations and modifications, and how to develop appropriate ones.
• Curriculum implications of IEP content and goals.

Positive reinforcement

Everyone learned how to use positive reinforcement to foster desired student behaviors, including:

• Understanding the function behind behaviors 
• How to break down the behavior to identify antecedents and consequences
• Effective incentives for different behavior functions

Effective transitions 

Transitions can be triggers for many students with ERI issues. We taught participants how to minimize disruptions during transitions within the classroom or moving from place to place, including:

• Establishing routines​ for entering and exiting the classroom 
• Using countdowns​ to prepare students for a transition
• Providing previews​ of an upcoming activity
• Posting schedules​ prominently
• Assigning class responsibilities​ during transitions
• Tips for minimizing disruptions in hallways

Expectations for paraprofessional support 

Paraprofessionals typically receive little (if any) training, and their roles and responsibilities are often inconsistent and poorly defined. We took this opportunity to review 10 expectations for paras and discuss how these actions impact student learning.

Resources for further learning & reinforcement

This workshop provided important and helpful information for the participants. But we know better than to believe they could remember everything and use it effectively without ongoing help. That’s why we created a Google site with more resources to help the team remember and apply what they learned. 

Effective emotional regulation strategies: the big picture 

Improving emotional regulation in schools is not a simple exercise. It takes more than a workshop to achieve results. For the New Jersey district we worked with, this workshop was part of a comprehensive plan that included development of a customized ERI playbook based on the district’s needs, as well as support from an on-site Thrive clinician.

If your district is ready to build academic achievement by providing ERI classroom support, we’re happy to share more information about the process and the critical components for success. Give us a call to discuss your needs and your goals.