Take 5: Support Your Autistic Students With This Brilliant Self-Regulation Framework

Many of us take our ability to deal with difficult or even stressful situations for granted. We get better at regulating our behaviour as we grow into adulthood, even when our ability to do so is hampered by our energy level, emotional state, thoughts and impulses.  

It comes naturally, even though self-regulation requires a deceivingly complex combination of skills: self-awareness, emotional intelligence, sensory stimulation filtering, focus, along with an ability to cope and relate well to others. 

People with autism spectrum disorder struggle with some or all of these capabilities. Designing effective accommodations for them requires a detailed understanding of self-regulation. 

Dr. Stuart Shanker is a Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Psychology at York University, and the CEO of the MEHRIT Centre, Ltd. He has developed a framework that identifies stressors and response strategies made up of five domains of self-regulation. 

1. Biological: Factors that may affect levels of arousal, such as medications, diet, sleep hygiene and sensory or movement strategies. 
2. Emotional: The ability to modulate emotions as a response to environmental factors. 
3. Cognitive: An ability to plan, organize and self-monitor. This includes perspective taking and cause and effect. 
4. Social: An ability to respond appropriately to the feelings and intentions of others. This includes monitoring how responses affect others and using problem-solving skills. 
5. Prosocial: An ability to co-regulate others, a sense of honesty with oneself and others and an ability to empathize and put others’ needs above your own. 

Here are his four steps for accommodating autistic students struggling with self-regulation. 

Step 1: Identify stressors that impact the student’s ability to self-regulate.  

• Ask the student and a parent or guardian about biological considerations: sleep hygiene, medication, hydration and food intake.  
• Have students identify their strengths and talents.  
• Teach students to identify triggers and situations they find challenging.  
• Determine the student’s unique sensory challenges and develop a plan to reduce the stress they cause. 
• For advanced learners, consider reframing how they view failure, errors and risk-taking. 

Step 2: Reduce the stressors. 

• Declutter your classroom’s walls, bulletin boards, shelves and furniture.  
• Remove unnecessary supplies and other items.  
• Create a calm corner, build an individual work area and install temporary dividers. 
• Have the student set goals and teach them to self-monitor. 

Step 3: Teach skills that enhance the student’s self-regulatory capabilities. 

• This can include deep breathing and calming exercises, discussing appropriate reactions and modelling more suitable behaviour.  
• Develop emotional awareness by teaching Leah Kuypers’ Zones of Regulation. 
• Use a feelings thermometer to teach the range of feelings.  
• Teach students to identify strategies that help them calm down.  
• Have students develop an emotional toolbox (i.e., what they can do when challenging situations arise).  
• Teach relaxation tools such as breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation and mindfulness. 
• Help students recognize when they are faced with triggers and know which strategies to use. Practice this cause-and-effect connection when the student is calm and regulated. 
• Teach problem-solving and compromising skills.  
• Teach social skills that are missing and impacting on relationships with others.  
• Break down social situations into a sequence of steps and role play appropriate responses. 
• Teach students to recognize that others have their own thoughts, beliefs and feelings. 
• Select teaching tools such as movies, novels and stories that illustrate models of prosocial behaviours. 

Step 4: Make time for the student to practice these skills and guide them through the process.  

• Prompt them and provide reinforcement so that they incorporate these skills into daily practice.  
• Use visuals to clarify your work expectations. For example, highlight which questions you want the student to complete and prepare a task list.  
• Organize activities that increase empathy (e.g., animal care, Roots of Empathy program). 
• Practice relaxation skills throughout the day.  
• Make regular breaks part of the routine. 

Dr. Shanker’s five domains provide a valuable foundation on which to develop your strategy implementation plan. Sticking with the four steps is critical though. This requires consistency and dedication on the part of educators. You can find a collection of his self-regulation publications at self-reg.ca.