We often have IEP goals for our students such as:
- Increase attention and focus during learning tasks.
- Learn appropriate behaviours at school and in the community.
Our students with complex needs are impacted by so many sensations and feelings that they may not be able to interpret or describe. Noise, smells, conversations, hunger or pain, thoughts and memories they may not understand can all contribute to a state of dysregulation which can lead to unexpected behaviours and behaviours of concern.
A pre-requisite for these complex skills is the capacity to be co-regulated by a supportive person in order to eventually learn independent self-regulation skills and strategies. Watch the video tutorial to gain an understanding about how regulation difficulties could be impacting your student throughout their day.
The zone for learning, levels of alertness, co-regulation and self-regulation are explained in this tutorial.
To get started: download and print the tutorial slides to take notes while watching the video tutorial.
Watch the video tutorials: Part 1 – 21 minutes Part 2 – 46 minutes
The Levels of Alertness Data Timeline is a tool to record observations of your student’s levels of alertness throughout the day.
This has been a useful tool which educators have used in a variety of ways:
- Laminated and kept handy for colleagues to make notes about their observations of the student’s behavioural responses at each level of alertness as well the strategies that helped and the student’s own attempts to self-regulate.
- In team meetings, discuss observations across different settings e.g. what level of alertness is the student at when they wake up, on transport, on arrival at school etc. this can inform us about the student’s need for calming or alerting strategies throughout the day.
- With the student; adding a personal colour scheme, adding emojis or photos to help them understand their own levels of alertness and what strategies or tools are helpful to feel “just-right” and In the Zone for Learning.
It is useful to keep these records for at least 1 week and sometimes a whole term to get to know students thoroughly.
Download: Levels of alertness information pack (10 pages) & Levels of alertness data collection template (1 page)
