Ordinarily Available Inclusive Provision

Emotional regulation in the early years

What is emotional regulation?

Emotional regulation is the ability to manage and respond to emotional experiences in appropriate and adaptive ways.

In the early years, it is important to bear in mind the child’s age and stage of development when identifying need.

  • Identification – what you may see in the child

    • Limited awareness of their physical internal state (interoception), even with adult support, for example hungry, thirsty, hot, cold, butterflies in their stomach when anxious.
    • Little understanding of how they are feeling. Struggles to identify in themselves and others the basic feelings of happy, sad, angry, scared (at a developmentally appropriate level).
    • Doesn’t have the vocabulary to communicate how they are feeling with others, instead, may communicate these feelings via dysregulated behaviours, such as hitting, biting or screaming.
    • Struggles to manage mild stress, for example waiting for their turn in a game (for a very short time).
    • Unable to regulate themselves without a practitioner to co-regulate with them, possibly leading to unsafe behaviours.
    • Unable to manage overly intense emotions safely, including feelings of excitement, without being triggered into fight, flight or freeze.
    • Doesn’t have strategies to self-soothe.
    • Finds some or all emotions overwhelming, leading to dysregulated behaviours such as screaming, pushing or throwing resources. Some may show more subtle signs of dysregulation such as biting nails, twirling hair, sucking or biting the edge of clothing and/or being overly compliant.
    • Presents as ‘shut down’ and doesn’t engage with others.

    You may also find the receptive language and expressive language information in the communication and interaction section of the framework useful.

  • Planned provision in the setting

    Based on need, some of this provision will be effective.

    • Look for patterns and triggers. Consider environmental factors such as time of day, activity, area of provision, other children nearby, sensory stimuli. Triggers may be cumulative and/or may not have an impact on the child straight away.
    • Explicitly teach self-regulation techniques. Adult modelling, reinforced with visuals, for example deep breathing, proprioceptive movement or heavy work, movement breaks and activities. Model co-regulation and techniques to help children feel emotionally safe with their Key Person and gradually with other adults. Help children to learn ways to begin to calm themselves independently where developmentally appropriate.
    • Plan interoception strategies to support children’s understanding of internal body signals and feelings.
    • Explicitly teach emotional vocabulary. Name and talk about a wide range of feelings and make it clear that all feelings are understandable and acceptable. Put children’s feelings into words. Provide resources for example, pictures, books, photographs and visual prompts.
    • Support the child to recognise their own emotions and begin to use strategies to feel calm when they are overwhelmed or dysregulated.
    • Provide access to a calm area for parts of the day to support regulation, either planned as a proactive part of the child’s daily routine or as and when necessary to co-regulate alongside an adult when the child is feelign overwhelmed.
    • Key adults support the child to make choices using visuals, when struggling to regulate emotions.
    • Support identified sensory processing and integration needs through carefully planned activities. See the sensory processing and integration section of the framework for suggestions.
    • Connect first, before responding. Adults carefully consider their response when a child is displaying distress. Notice what is happening, making sure the adult is regulated before responding.
    • Validate and attune to feelings and emotions. Once connected, show curiosity and understanding by modelling thinking through the child’s emotional response, for example ‘I wonder if that was tricky for you because…’, ‘I wonder if you were feeling ….’, ‘It’s hard when…’. Attune to the child’s feelings by meeting their emotional intensity, resisting the urge to minimise or dismiss their feelings, using PACE. .
    • Remain curious. Apply the ‘HALT’ concept to remind adults that children may struggle to make good decisions and/or become distressed when Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired.
    • Develop the use of positive ‘How to Help Me Regulate’ Plans or One Page Profiles which outline how the child will be co-regulated by adults at all stages of dysregulation, as well as identifying support the child needs when in crisis.
    • Offer ‘heavy work’ or large physical and sensory experiences to provide physical and sensory feedback to support regulation. Examples are: carrying a backpack with heavy items in it to transport, pushing heavy things in a wheelbarrow, lifting large containers filled with stones (so they are heavy, but not too heavy to be unsafe), as appropriate according to the age and stage of the child.