Stories to teach emotional regulation.
These 12 simple stories were written to support safe and meaningful exchange of information between parents, professionals, and children with special needs.
These stories were written to support children who are using the Zones of Regulation Curriculum for emotional regulation.
The stories are presented in two formats (written or draw your own pictures). This enables these stories to be used with a wide variety of age groups. The adult facilitator may choose to read, draw pictures or draw them as they tell the story. The child themselves may read the stories.
Each story includes a set of "let's talk about it" questions. You may adapt the questions to suit your child. You may remove the questions if asking the child to read the stories.
Goals of this resource:
- Children to identify feelings of others.
- Children to identify what others may be thinking.
- Children to link body signals or clues with feelings.
- Children to identify possible tools for regulation.
- Adults to identify co-regulation tools that may be used to support children.
- Children to become aware that people experience a range of feelings and thoughts.
- Children to become aware that feelings and thoughts may change.
- Children and adult to acknowledge that there are no "right" or "wrong" feelings.
The final page of this printable sheet provides a blank template for a child to create their own story. The child may reflect on their own experiences, create a story to help work through possible solutions or create stories to explore a feeling that they have difficulty regulating. Parents or professionals may use the template to create a relevant story for their child.
