Self-Reg Blog
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Stuart Shanker
Susan Hopkins
Aviva Dunsiger
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Self-Reg Across the Lifespan: Mindfulness and Self-Control
Blog by Alex Kronstein, a Self-Reg Foundations Certificate Program alumni. Alex Kronstein is an autistic advocate in the neurodiversity movement who advocates against seclusion and restraint in schools and recently completed the Self-Reg Foundations program....
You Do Not Have to Figure This Out Alone
There is something that happens in the first hour of the Self-Reg Summer Symposium that is hard to describe if you have not been there. You walk into a room, or you open your laptop if you are joining online, and you realize very quickly that the people around you...
Four Days Designed for the People Who Are Holding Everyone Else Together
Let's be honest about something. The people most likely to attend a symposium like this are the ones who care the most. The educators who are still thinking about a child on the drive home. The early childhood professionals who lie awake wondering if they handled...
When Signs Speak About Who We Are
By Danka Gula, a Self-Reg Learning Facilitator’s Alumni and Reframing Bullying Learner The Messages We See in Public Spaces Some time ago I noticed the following sign on the door of my local public library: “We want everyone to have a great experience when using our...
A Case of the June’s: Reframing Behaviour In The Final Days of School
I recently finished writing my report cards. While it felt good to be done this big, year-end task, I then went into school the next day and was surprised by what happened. Why Did Every Child Change? I like to think that I know my students well, and that their report...
Bringing Self-Reg® to the Slopes: Reflections from Ontario’s Track 3 Program
By Kristina Schwartz, RECE a Self-Reg Learning Facilitator’s Program Alumni One of the things I love most about Shanker Self-Reg® is that it doesn’t live neatly inside one profession or one role. Once you truly embody it, it quietly reshapes how you see people...
What Does Self-Reg Look Like When It Starts to Change a Whole System?
One educator learns Self-Reg. They start seeing things differently. They share what they are noticing with a colleague. The colleague reads something. Attends a workshop. Tries it with a student. Brings it back to a team meeting. And slowly, almost without anyone...
For the Educational Assistants Who Hold Everything Together
There is a role in schools and early childhood settings that is often invisible in professional development conversations. The person who is frequently right there when everything escalates. Who is sitting beside the child who cannot hold it together in the large...
My Journey in Recognizing Limbic Brakes
By Giedrė Sujetaitė-Volungevičienė a Self-Reg in Early Childhood Development learner. A Shift in Perspective It is remarkable how much one’s perspective can change in just one year. This story represents a true journey for me—it marks the moment I began to recognize...
Learning to Notice Without Judgement
Blog by Kayley Inuksuk Mackay, a Self-Reg Foundations Certificate Program Learner. Something clicked for me during this module. I think I have been understanding a few of the steps from a purely cognitive lens. The History of the Self-Control Paradigm just landed in...
What Happens When “Soft Eyes” Are Not Enough
There is a phrase that circulates in Self-Reg communities: "soft eyes." It is a reminder to look at a child's behaviour with compassion and curiosity rather than judgment. It is a good reminder. An important one. And it is never the whole answer. At some point, most...
Co-Regulation Is Not a Calming Strategy. It Is a Relationship.
A lot of people come to Self-Reg having already heard the phrase "co-regulation." They might even feel like they know what it means: helping a child calm down, using a quiet voice, getting down to their level. Those things are not wrong. But they are the surface of...
When Effort Collapses: What My 7-Year-Old Is Teaching Me About Self-Reg
Blog by Self-Reg Learning Facilitator’s Program Alumni Kaitie Westbrook Recognizing the Moment When Capacity Disappears There’s a moment I’ve come to recognize in my 7-year-old. It happens after he’s already started his homework, when he’s shown me he can do it. Then...
A Failure Or A Stressor?: When Asking “Why” Leads To A New Perspective
As I was driving to school today, I was doing a lot of thinking. I really appreciate a longer ride to school, as this is when I have an opportunity to reflect and it's often when I start to see things differently. Today, my reflections were about students going to the...
When Overwhelm Makes Everything Feel Final: The Power of Co-Regulation
Blog written by Shauna Whiteside, a Self-Reg Foundations Certificate Program alumni. I recently got a puppy and she taught me something vital: overwhelm can make us believe that the difficult feelings of the present are permanent, when in fact they are not. When I...
The Arc of the Day Is Not Just a Schedule, It Is a Stress Plan
The Arc of the Day Matters More Than We Think Picture a kindergarten classroom at 2:00 in the afternoon. Or a middle school hallway right after lunch on a Friday. Or a Grade 3 class in the third week of November. If you have spent time in schools or early childhood...
What Behaviour Is Really Telling Us: A Closer Look at the Five Domains
Think about a student you have found yourself puzzling over. Maybe they shut down mid-task for no apparent reason. Maybe they explode over something that seems tiny. Maybe they are just... unreachable some days, even when everything looks fine on the surface.Self-Reg...
Stillness Spoke Louder
Blog by Self-Reg Learning Facilitator Certificate Program Alumni, Stela Haralala The other day, I was walking by a lake. It was quiet, the sun was low, and the water was still enough to mirror the trees along the edge. I wanted to capture a photo: the light, the...