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Self-Regulation

Durham District School Board (DDSB) has worked closely with Dr. Stuart Shanker to support our students through Self-Regulation. Self-Regulation includes an awareness of what stresses us, how it impacts us and our ability to develop ways to manage it.

Dr. Shanker states that behaviour can be viewed as a reaction to stressors which occur in 5 domains:

  • Biological
  • Emotional
  • Cognitive
  • Social
  • Pro-Social

Regulating the 5 domains

The biological domain includes overall physical health and energy levels. Some stressors that can impact the biological domain, include:

  • Illness
  • Lack of sleep
  • Diet and water
  • Environmental stressors such as light, temperature and noise levels

School supports

In order to help students regulate the biological domain, schools and teachers can:

  • Make adjustments to the environment (lighting, sound, seating)
  • Provide movement breaks
  • Accommodate flexible nutrition breaks

Parent supports

To help your child self-regulate the biological domain at home, you can:

  • Ensure they get enough sleep
  • Limit screen time before bed
  • Encourage physical activity
  • Support healthy eating habits
  • Make sure your home contains both calm and stimulating spaces

The emotional domain includes the ability to experience and understand emotions, both positive and negative. Some stressors that can impact the emotional domain, include:

  • Change in routine
  • Change in the family structure (death, divorce, birth of a sibling)
  • Conflict between friends
  • Grades
  • Overscheduling
  • Perceptions associated with body image

School supports

In order to help students regulate the emotional domain, schools and teachers can:

Parent supports

To help your child self-regulate the emotional domain at home, you can:

  • Create predictable routines
  • Let your child take responsibility for tasks
  • Establish consistent and appropriate boundaries
  • Support your child in monitoring task completion
  • Prepare your child for changes in routine
  • Model self-regulation in your own behaviour

The cognitive domain includes the ability to think through and learn new things. Some stressors that can impact the cognitive domain, include:

  • Work that is too hard or too easy
  • Perfectionism
  • Emotional stresses
  • A diagnosed or identified learning challenge (Learning disability, ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Depression, Anxiety Disorder)

School supports

To help students self-regulate the cognitive domain, schools and teachers can:

  • Provide learning tasks that are relevant and of interest to students
  • Offer a variety of learning environments
  • Deliver positive feedback and reinforcement
  • Create an environment that supports learning and work completion
  • Offer clear structure and rules

Parent supports

To help your child self-regulate the cognitive domain at home, you can:

  • Encourage fun and interactive activities
  • Find practical uses for information learned at school
  • Visit the library, parks, exhibits, museums and community events related to what is taught in school
  • Reward effort rather than outcome
  • Recognize and reinforce your child's individual strengths rather than compare them to others
  • Talk about the steps before starting a task

The social domain involves understanding social situations and interacting appropriately with others. Some stressors that can impact the social domain, include:

  • Working with others
  • Unfamiliar social interactions
  • Inadequate sleep, exercise and nutrition
  • Difficulty regulating in other domains
  • A diagnosed or recognized learning challenge (Learning disability, ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Depression, Anxiety Disorder)

School supports

In order to help students self-regulate the social domain, schools and teachers can:

  • Embed social and emotional learning into the curriculum and daily routines
  • Provide collaborative learning experiences
  • Foster healthy and meaningful relationships, as well as community building
  • Use Restorative Practice and Progressive Discipline
  • Use differential instruction (offer choice in learning tasks)
  • Offer activities that promote teamwork and cooperation (choirs, sporting teams, clubs)

Parent supports

To help your child self-regulate the social domain at home, you can:

  • Discuss feelings and possible reasons for those feelings
  • Role play challenging social situations
  • Encourage social interactions with others, including cooperative play
  • Encourage a healthy diet, adequate sleep and exercise
  • Model healthy relationships
  • Celebrate strengths
  • Spend time interacting together

The pro-social domain includes understanding how to get along with others, empathy and honesty. Some stressors that can impact the pro-social domain, include:

  • Over-reliance on punitive discipline
  • Actions that promote immediate gratification and limited responsibility
  • Over-exposure to media which focuses on individual needs and self-centeredness
  • Environments that values individual achievement at the expense of others
  • Cultures that condone or ignore bullying behaviours

School supports

In order to help students self-regulate the pro-social domain, schools and teachers can:

  • Use Progressive Discipline and Restorative Practice
  • Encourage students to join or participate in clubs or teams which develop empathy (social justice groups, bullying prevention activities)
  • Support student participation in community-based activities (food drives, Senior Citizen Centre visits)
  • Encourage empathy, active listening, leadership and the importance of helping others

Parent supports

To help your child self-regulate the pro-social domain at home, you can:

  • Help your child consider the interests, feelings and needs of others
  • Promote cooperation in a variety of activities
  • Encourage your child to use personal strengths to help others
  • Praise your child for empathetic behaviours and recognize these actions in yourself and others
  • Encourage and support community involvement
  • Monitor and discuss the impact of social media
  • Watch movies, sporting events, television shows and read with your child and discuss how the actions impact others
  • Model kindness and empathetic behaviour towards others at home and in the community

Help your child self-regulate

You can teach your child to self-regulate by helping your child:

  • Understand what calm and alert looks and feels like
  • Recognize when they are stressed
  • Identify what is causing stress
  • Decide to take action
  • Figure out which strategy will help
  • Return to a calm and alert state

Contact Us

Durham District School Board
400 Taunton Road East, Whitby, ON
L1R 2K6 Canada 

Email Us

Phone: 905-666-5500
Fax: 905-666-6474
Toll Free: 1-800-265-3968