This strategy teaches students to evaluate the problem and the appropriateness of their reaction. Often, students display big reactions to small problems and those big reactions result in disruptions to instruction and daily routines. For example, a student may react to a peer accidentally bumping into them by hitting the peer. The reaction is far bigger than the problem—they don’t match. By teaching and prompting students to compare the size of the problem to the size of a reaction, students learn to engage in appropriate responses for problems. ​

Self regulation is one's ability to manage his/her emotions and the behaviors that accompany these emotions. These emotions can be perceived as both positive or negative, and many times our students don't know what an appropriate response is for various emotions. Sometimes when students have an inappropriate response to events that are out of their control, they need time and a safe space to process what happened.

Every classroom at Weston has a Take a Break spot. It's a space in the classroom where students can go when they need some time and space to be alone and self regulate their emotions. Students can choose to put themselves in Take A Break or they to might be asked to go when an adult feels they need a break.

What is Whole Body Listening ?

• *listening with the eyes (looking at the speaker)

• *listening with the ears (both ears ready to hear)

• *listening with the mouth (quiet - no talking, humming or making sounds)

• *listening with the hands (quietly at the side of the body or in the lap)

• *listening the the feet (standing still or quietly on the floor)

• *listening with the body (facing the speaker)

• *listening with the brain (thinking about what the speaker is saying)

• *listening with the heart (caring about what the speaker is saying)

What are the zones?

There are four zones to describe how your brain and body feel.

BLUE Zone​ – Your body is running slow, such as when you are tired, sick, sad or bored.

GREEN Zone – Like a green light, you are “good to go.” Your body may feel happy, calm and focused.

YELLOW Zone – This zone describes when you start to lose control, such as when you are frustrated, anxious, worried, silly or surprised. Use caution when you are in this zone.

RED Zone – This zone is for extreme emotions such as anger, terror and aggression. When you are in this zone, you are out of control, have trouble making good decisions and must STOP.

I-messages are what students use to solve "little problems". They help students develop self-advocacy and self-reliance skills and promote positive and healthy communication.

Sensory tools allow student to better organize and calm their bodies via sensory input. There are a variety of sensory tools including weighted modalities, oral-motor tools, fidgets, stress balls, and flexible seating options. Weston has also created sensory pathways in the halls, and provide the students with education on how to appropriately use the pathways. This allows students to independently self-regulate with a motor break if their bodies need it.