Otselic Valley Central School District

How are you feeling today? Green (calm and ready to learn), blue (gloomy/tired), red (mad), or yellow (overly silly/excited-frustrated )? Green is awesome of course, and a student in the green zone will likely feel engaged and ready to learn in the classroom.  The other states, not so much.  What can a Viking do about that? Mrs. Lorrie Paul, an Occupational Therapy Assistant for 28 years, has a plan.She has all kinds of strategies to help students, from specific classroom tools that support the curriculum to new Zones of Regulation (™) (Think Social Publishing, Inc.) developed using principles of neuroscience and placed around our building. At a Board of Education meeting earlier this fall, school board members took a walk around school to see each of the Zones and their related activities, all demonstrated by Mrs. Paul.Some are as simple as tracing one’s finger through a bright red spiral; another is a simple exercise a student can do in place. All of them work in different ways to support healthy brains and nervous systems that help “regulate” a student’s mood and body so  they feel calmer and are more ready to learn.This support from Mrs. Paul demonstrates how Occupational Therapy works in schools. Because O T is not about learning an "occupation" but about what occupies your time, O T professionals in schools help students with learning, being creative, working with others, and all the opportunities that fill a school day.  The Zones of Regulation are one component of Mrs. Paul’s tool kit for student support, and students are seeing them in our hallways for the first time this year. Licensing requirements prevent our creating a video to share more about these “zones” in action, but you are invited to visit zonesofregulation.com and hes-extraordinary.com to learn more. Families are also welcome to contact Mrs. Paul directly: LPaul@ovcs.org.