• Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) helps people:

    • Understand and manage their emotions
    • Set and achieve positive goals
    • Have and show empathy for others
    • Establish and maintain positive relationships
    • Make responsible decisions

     

    Research links evidence-based SEL to positive outcomes such as gains in social-emotional skills; improved attitudes about self, others, and school; prosocial classroom behavior; and 11 percentile-point gain in overall academic achievement (Durlak et al., 2011). SEL also reduces the risk of conduct issues and emotional distress. A separate study found that SEL interventions are associated with lasting positive effects. Months or years after SEL exposure, students experienced increased levels of academic success and lower risks of adverse outcomes (Taylor et al., 2017).     

    The goal of SEL in schools is to support the whole-child's development. When implemented schoolwide, SEL helps create a positive school climate where students and adults can thrive together, improving social-emotional competence and academic achievement. The Meadowood Program is currently utilizing The Zones of Regulation curriculum and the Circles curriculum.

    The Zones of Regulation

    Regulation is something everyone continually works on whether we are aware of it or not. We all encounter trying circumstances that can test our limits. If we can recognize when we are becoming less regulated, we are able to do something about it to manage our feelings and get ourselves to a healthy place. This comes more naturally for some, but for others it is a skill that needs more attention and practice. This is the goal of The Zones of Regulation (Zones of Regulation).

    Circles

    The CIRCLES program begins with defining the self in a positive way and granting the self both respect and autonomy. With respect and autonomy comes a sense of personal well-being for the student. This curriculum uses principles of behavior psychology and proven techniques in special education that help students generalize their learning across many settings: school, home, social, and vocational.

    The CIRCLES program teaches social distance and levels of intimacy through the use of seven color-coded concentric circles. Starting from the center circle, which represents the self, each new color-coded concentric circle represents behaviors, feelings, and actions appropriate to the distance from the center or self. For example, a person may hug and kiss members of their own family, people in the Blue Big Hug Circle, but only wave to a child they might see regularly but do not know, who would be in the distant Orange Wave Circle.

    Currently, we teach the CIRCLES program only to MTP students; however, we plan to branch out to other grade levels in the near future.

    Circles Curriculum®: Intimacy Relationships, Level, 50% OFF

    References

    Committee for Children. (2021). Social-Emotional Learning at our School [PowerPoint Slides]. 

    Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger,  K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405–432. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x

    Taylor, R. D., Oberle, E., Durlak, J. A., & Weissberg, R. P. (2017). Promoting positive youth development through school-based social and emotional learning interventions: A meta-analysis of follow-up effects. Child Development, 88(4), 1156–1171. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12864

    Zones of Regulation https://zonesofregulation.com/how-it-works/