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Co-regulation: Teaching at Its Most Pure
June 20, 2023
Traditional behavior-based methods, such as time-outs, token economies, or behavior and reward charts, while still very popular, are not exactly supported by brain-based science.
-Jamie Chaves, Occupational Therapist
-Jamie Chaves, Occupational Therapist
In an Engaging Exchange last year, guests Heather Bernt-Santy and Mike Huber dove deep into how we think about and respond to children’s behaviors that challenge us. Bernt-Santy suggested, “We’ve sort of pathologized behavior to such a point that we can’t even think of it as the same as a child who has a tough time putting a puzzle together or a child who mispronounces a word or a child who’s too short to reach the drinking fountain. Those are all very developmentally acceptable things to us, but for some reason when it slips into this area of what we call behavior, we develop a much more stressful attitude about it.”
The conversation turned to a focus on co-regulation versus compliance and referenced an article by Huber where he noted, An adult who stays regulated and co-regulates with that child can build a relationship with that child. This does not happen overnight, and the adult may need extra support to regulate their own emotions (through reflective supervision, meditation, self-reflection, and other techniques)… Compliance ultimately only works by relying on fear and shame. Putting the name of a child like this on the behavior chart every day will only serve to deepen their trauma.
Like all teaching practices, co-regulation takes practice, and you will not do it correctly each time. You will not always know what set a child off. You will not always calm a child enough to problem solve with them. And that is all right.
What you will do is share space with them, care for them, and most importantly share your common humanity. This is teaching at its most pure.
Reminder: Don’t miss today’s special free, live ROW event with eleven of the 12 authors of Stories of Resistance.
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Comments (2)
Displaying All 2 CommentsEugene, OR, United States
Yes, Francis, as both an educator trained in ABA back in the day, and as a parent whose child was subjected to it (with the best of intentions), it's painful to think of what we believed was 'objectively helpful.' Both Heather and Mike talk about this often - see Mike's book, Inclusion Includes Us and many of Heather's podcasts, including a recent one with Mike and his supervisor on co-regulation vs compliance (episode 279).
University of Phoenix/ Red Rocks Community College
Denver, Colorado, United States
A central challenge in this area is that the special education profession is dominated by behaviorism, and by the use of ABA methods. Early childhood programs are expected to be more and more involved in special education intervention, but by default are told to use these behavioral approaches. This is a central dilemma regarding this very important issue.
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