Zone Rooms help students to regulate outside of the classroom

Take a moment and think about what you do when you are feeling overwhelmed about something. Do you get a cup of tea, or do you find somewhere to sit and just take a moment?

Now take into consideration when a child in school needs to take a moment, where do they go and what do they do to take a break?

Balancing classwork, homework, friends and home life can be a lot for some teens. Add to that, an after-school job for the older ones, and it can all get to be too much some times.

The Mt. Pleasant Middle School and the High School have created “Zone Rooms” for an answer to where children can go to regulate.

“The Zone Rooms were created to assist in helping the kids on how to self-regulate,” said Mt. Pleasant Middle School Counselor Brianna Porter. “We found, through research, that we, as adults have breaks built into our day that help us to regulate. We know that when we start to feel irritated or escalated that it’s time to take a break.”

“So we want to teach our students how to identify the moments where they are getting dis-regulated,” said Porter. “They may start to feel tension in their body, maybe tears start welling. It’s all time for then to take a break and regulate.”

The purpose of the Zone Rooms is to help the students identify those moments when they are feeling overwhelmed or have tension. The rooms are designed to give the students a space to unwind, take a moment out of the classroom and normalize. Then they can go back to the classroom with having a better frame of mind.

The rooms themselves are intended with comfort in mind. They are quiet spaces with low lights and seating that allows the kids to be calm and away from whatever is stressing them at the moment.

“We are trying to keep things from escalating,” said Porter. “It helps in keeping them from being defiant with a teacher or staff. Or maybe they are having an issue with a peer. The rooms are to help intervene with those situations.”

“Our data, since opening the rooms here are the middle school at the beginning of the year, have shown that they are effective,” said Porter. “They have been a wonderful tool for our students.”

“We just opened up our Zone Room at the high school about a week ago,” said High School Counselor Ashlei Venghaus. “Since we have opened it, we have had about four to five students a day use the room.”

“The students have 10 minutes, and they have to put down their phone,” said Venghaus. “There are different things in the room that are there to assist them in regulating.”

The time that the students spend in the room is monitored, and the students are being held responsible for the work that is missed while in the Zone Room.

“There are times,” said Venghaus, “That these students need a time to think and to talk to someone. There are times when a trip to the Zone will lead to discussion. We like to give them that option.”

“This room, at the high school, is to help students recognize that they need a break,” said Venghaus. “And to utilize it to help them so that they are ready to learn.”

Contact Michelle Hillestad at michelle.hillestad@southeastiowaunion.com