The Zones of Regulation began with occupational therapist Leah Kuypers looking for a solution to the issue of isolation and punishment in classrooms. Working as an OT in several large school districts, Leah noticed a common thread: many students struggled with sensory regulation and emotional control, affecting their learning and well-being. Leah conceptualized an idea or framework for thinking about regulation that she called The Zones of Regulation. Colleagues were quick to notice its impact, and soon Leah began sharing her approach at professional workshops. While completing her Master of Arts in Education and Graduate Certificate in Autism Spectrum Disorders at Hamline University, she developed the first draft of what would become The Zones of Regulation curriculum, the foundation for what is now used in educational, clinical, and home settings around the world.
A Project Shaped by Practice-Based Experiences
Before creating The Zones, Leah worked as an OT supporting students who often experienced overwhelming emotions but didn’t yet have the tools to manage them. Many of these children were autistic or had attention differences, anxiety, mental health diagnoses, or other regulation differences. Their challenges often showed up as physical outbursts, withdrawal, impulsivity, or difficulty staying engaged in learning. Leah’s original capstone described how these patterns contributed to missed instruction, increased discipline, and strained peer relationships, and it outlines the need for a structured, teachable approach to help students recognize what they were feeling and respond in ways that supported their goals (Kuypers, 2008).
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The project took shape around a central question: How do we teach regulation in a way that is both practical and grounded in what research tells us about development, the brain, and behavior?
Built on a Strong Research Base
One of the most striking elements of the original capstone is its depth. Leah’s literature review spans several major areas of research that continue to anchor The Zones of Regulation framework and curriculum today. Some of these include:
- Neuroscience and cognition, including how different parts of the brain and nervous system influence attention, emotional reactions, and levels of alertness.
- Executive functioning, or the mental skills that help us manage our thoughts and actions. This includes skills like shifting attention, controlling impulses, remembering information, and using self-talk to guide behavior (Barkley, 2012; Diamond, 2013).
- Sensory integration, which looks at how people process information from their senses and how differences in sensory processing can affect everyday experiences and participation in daily activities (Ayres, 1972; Dunn, 1997).
- Social Emotional regulation, or how people experience, express, and manage their emotions, including the strategies they use to adjust their reactions in different situations (Gross, 1998; Thompson, 1994).
- Child development and regulation, including research on how co-regulation and self-regulation develops over time and how early relationships with caregivers help shape these skills (Kopp, 1982).
Across these areas, Leah’s capstone highlights a consistent idea: Regulation depends on intertwined cognitive, emotional, and sensory systems, and when any of these systems is overwhelmed or underdeveloped, learners benefit from explicit teaching and supportive environments that help them build regulation competencies. Self-regulation also develops through co-regulation, as learners rely on supportive adults and environments while gradually building independent skills.
Practical Tools from the Beginning
Leah’s capstone moved beyond theory to include practical tools for teaching regulation. It became the vessel to turn her Zones-based teaching resources, which included visuals, handouts, and activities designed to help students understand and communicate their internal states and feelings, into something more structured and organized in a curriculum format. Colleagues had begun asking for copies, and interest in the Zones framework grew quickly after Leah shared her tried-and-tested early materials with the therapists and teachers she worked with.
Educators, therapists, and caregivers recognized the impact of this straightforward framework and encouraged Leah to create a curriculum and present it at professional development workshops and conferences. To fulfill her capstone requirements at Hamline University, Leah could conduct research or create a curriculum. This was the impetus she needed to organize The Zones framework and the related resources she had developed into a curriculum manuscript that included emotion-identification tools, strategy options for calming or alerting the nervous system, reflection worksheets, visual aids, and language scripts to help adults model supportive communication.
Many of the resources that educators recognize in The Zones today appear in early forms in this capstone curriculum. The emphasis on visuals, predictable routines, and concrete language reflects what the capstone describes as essential for students who rely on structure to understand expectations and translate strategies into action (Kuypers, 2008). People began asking for curriculum copies, and it spread largely through word of mouth.
From Capstone to Published Curriculum
Leah started providing workshops to train others on The Zones of Regulation framework, and after speaking on The Zones at a couple of large conferences, she found herself with publishing offers. In 2011, The Zones of Regulation curriculum book was formally published by Think Social Publishing, expanding the capstone lessons into a comprehensive, polished curriculum. While the curriculum has grown and evolved, the heart of the work remains grounded in the ideas documented in the original manuscript: strong theoretical foundations, practical tools, accessible teaching strategies, and a belief that learners can grow their capacity for regulation with the right support.
A Lasting Contribution
Leah’s capstone offers a clear window into where The Zones began, and the research and practice needs that shaped its early design. Over 20 years, a lot has changed in the field, which is why Leah and her team have integrated current research, updated language, new visuals, and expanded instructional resources into the new The Zones of Regulation® Digital Curriculum (Kuypers, 2024) and its related companion materials. The original Zones concepts were grounded in best practices at the time of publication; however, as time went on over the last two decades, it became clear that not all components of the curriculum were serving everyone well or were being used correctly. In order to adapt, we’ve integrated feedback, listened to our community, and stayed aligned with research and best practices, so The Zones continues to grow as a trusted, child-centered framework for building lifelong regulation skills.
As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the conception of The Zones of Regulation, it remains a strong example of how thoughtful, research-aligned design can translate a practical need into an approach that has positively impacted the well-being of learners around the world.
References
Ayres, A. J. (1972). Sensory integration and learning disorders. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services.
Barkley, R. A. (2012). Executive functions: What they are, how they work, and why they evolved. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Diamond, A. (2013). Executive functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 135–168.
Dunn, W. (1997). The impact of sensory processing abilities on the daily lives of young children and their families. Infants & Young Children, 9(4), 23–35.
Gross, J. J. (1998). The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review. Review of General Psychology, 2(3), 271–299.
Kopp, C. B. (1982). Antecedents of self-regulation: A developmental perspective. Developmental Psychology, 18(2), 199–214.
Kuypers, L. (2008). The Zones of Regulation: A curriculum designed to foster self-regulation and emotional control. Master’s thesis, Hamline University.
Kuypers, L. (2011). The Zones of Regulation: A curriculum designed to foster self-regulation and emotional control. Santa Clara, CA: Think Social Publishing.
Kuypers, L. (2024). Getting Into The Zones of Regulation: The Complete Framework and Digital Curriculum Companion. Santa Clara, CA: Think Social Publishing.
Kuypers, L. (2024). The Zones of Regulation® Digital Curriculum. Minneapolis, MN: The Zones of Regulation, Inc.
Thompson, R. A. (1994). Emotion regulation: A theme in search of definition. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59(2–3), 25–52.
