The Zones of Regulation

In my previous post, I shared my "Red" poem, and I wanted to do a little more to explain its connection to my blog's mission of celebrating Singularity and sharing my thoughts about autism. 

Singularity has been seeing Lila for occupational therapy for several years. They have worked on many things over time, including vestibular and perception issues. Lila is currently working with Singularity on a curriculum called The Zones of Regulation, which was created by Leah Kuypers, another occupational therapist who worked with Singularity when he was much younger. 

As you can see from the graphic below, in this curriculum different emotions and states of being are associated with different colors:

I think that this is an excellent curriculum. At the beginning of the workbook, the focus is on associating emotions and states with the zones, then moves on to recognizing one's own internal state. For Singularity, there is often an issue with either under- or over-arousal. Singularity's work with Lila has improved his awareness of his internal states. They are now working on recognizing external and internal triggers that send Singularity into the yellow and red zones, and then they will move on to strategies for self-regulation so that he will be able to help himself to return to the green zone.

So, in my daily life with Singularity, I have come to associate the color red with the red zone, and this has somewhat overshadowed my earlier positive feelings aroused by the color.  

What zone are you in?