This SEND Emotional Regulation Toolkit for Practitioners is designed to support adults working with children who experience emotional overwhelm, anxiety, sensory differences and difficulties with self-regulation.

Grounded in Educational Psychology, this resource bridges the gap between theory and practice, providing simple, effective ways to understand behaviour and respond in supportive, relational ways.

A Story-Led Approach
This toolkit is uniquely supported by themes and approaches drawn from a published children’s book series exploring neurodiversity, emotional regulation and children’s inner worlds.

The activities reflect how children often experience emotions — not as clear, single feelings, but as complex, overlapping internal experiences. Through story, metaphor and reflection, children are given safe ways to explore and express what can be difficult to say out loud.

Who Is This For?
Teachers, TAs and SENCOs
Pastoral and wellbeing staff
Intervention and nurture provision
Alternative provision settings
Anyone supporting children with SEND, SEMH, ASD or ADHD

What This Resource Helps You Do

This toolkit supports practitioners to:

✔ Understand behaviour as communication
✔ Recognise signs of emotional overwhelm
✔ Respond in low-arousal, supportive ways
✔ Help children express emotions safely
✔ Build emotional literacy and regulation skills

What’s Included

A collection of practical, reflective tools and activities that can be used immediately in real settings:

Brain Snapshot – supporting children to name and map emotions
Journal in the Wild – using metaphor to explore feelings safely
Understanding Overwhelm – identifying underlying causes of behaviour
Oops Moments – reframing mistakes to build resilience
Story Seeds Framework – designing reflective, child-led activities
Tiny Frogs of Hope – encouraging reflection and positive next steps

Each tool is:
✔ Easy to implement
✔ Low preparation
✔ Adaptable across ages and needs
✔ Suitable for 1:1 or small group work

Why This Matters

Many children cannot easily explain how they feel.

Instead, they may:

Shut down
Become dysregulated
Avoid tasks
Display challenging behaviour

This resource provides indirect, safe and structured ways for adults to support children in understanding and expressing their emotions.

Educational Psychology Foundations

This toolkit draws on key principles including:

Emotional literacy and affect labelling
Co-regulation and relational safety
Cognitive load and overwhelm
Behaviour as communication
Symbolic and metaphor-based expression

How to Use
As part of a targeted SEND intervention
Within nurture or pastoral provision
To inform staff practice and understanding
As a flexible toolkit rather than a fixed programme