SEL Series Overview:
As schools around the world continue investing in Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), one essential question remains largely unasked: Are all students truly ready to access what SEL offers?
This three-part series explores a growing body of research and real-world insights pointing to a foundational gap in many SEL programs: most begin with emotional instruction and self-reflection, but few consider the role of the body and sensory-motor readiness as prerequisites for emotional growth.
Over three installments, you’ll learn:
- Why even the most well-designed SEL programs may be inaccessible to the students who need them most
- What neuroscience and developmental psychology reveal about the sequence of learning regulation skills
- How trauma, neurodivergence, and sensory processing challenges impact emotional learning
- The practical, low-cost strategies that educators, parents, and school leaders can implement to support physiological regulation—first
- How to build SEL programs that are inclusive, equitable, and actually work for all students
Whether you’re an educator, therapist, school leader, caregiver, or advocate, this series invites you to reframe your understanding of emotional readiness…not as a given, but as a developmental milestone that must be supported before students can truly regulate, relate, and rise.
Alert Program® is designed to be complimentary to SEL, behavioral health, and wellness initiatives and is not intended to replace, but rather support, existing curriculum.
Click here to read Part 1 or Part 2 of the Series!
Part 3: Barriers to Implementation
Many well-meaning educators and administrators resist adding sensory components to SEL curricula for understandable reasons. Time is limited. Budgets are tight. Training is already overwhelming. There is a legitimate fear of “over-pathologizing” children or getting lost in the weeds of individual needs.
These common objections can be reframed. Addressing sensory readiness is not about adding complexity. It’s about re-sequencing the support aimed at serving all students. Regulation shouldn’t be viewed as optional or extra when it is, in fact, the prerequisite for everything SEL tries to teach.
The good news is that many sensory strategies are low-cost, quick to implement, and easy to embed into daily routines. Movement breaks between lessons, access to fidget tools, calming corners with visual cues, and the use of regulation language (like the “engine” metaphor) are not heavy lifts…but they make an enormous difference.
As Durlak et al. remind us:
“Universal SEL programs are most successful when implemented with fidelity, supported by training, and embedded into existing structures.”
By embedding sensory support within existing structures, rather than tacking it on as a separate intervention, we improve outcomes across the board, without overwhelming staff or stretching resources beyond capacity.
I. A More Effective Approach: Sensory Before Emotions
A developmentally and neurologically aligned approach to SEL follows a clear sequence:
Step 1: Train Educators
- Provide professional education opportunities such as self-regulation training, trauma-informed practices, and how to recognize signs of physiological dysregulation.
Step 2: Recognize Alert Levels
- Use body-based language and visuals.
- Normalize fluctuating sensory states.
Step 3: Provide Tools to Regulate
- Programs such as the Alert Program® emphasize strategies to support all levels of alertness. Users are encouraged to identify and select sensorimotor strategies that best support individual nervous system needs.
Step 4: Then Introduce SEL
- Once students are physiologically regulated, emotional strategies become accessible (reflection, problem-solving, empathy, active listening).
Teachers are not therapists, but they are frontline nervous system supporters. With the right tools, they can create classrooms where all students have a fighting chance to thrive.
As Dussault writes:
“There is abundant research supporting the argument that emotional regulation and wellbeing are prerequisites for key areas of academic and intellectual functioning, especially around abilities related to executive function and metacognitive processes.”
II. Let’s Build SEL Programs That Work for All
Self-regulation isn’t just emotional…it relies on the body-mind connection. Without first addressing sensory and motor needs, we risk asking students to “use their words” before their nervous system is ready. Most SEL programs are built around what children think and how they behave…but too often neglect how their bodies actually feel.
This oversight isn’t minor, especially for neurodivergent, trauma-exposed, or chronically dysregulated students. For them, the sensory-motor foundation isn’t extra—it’s essential. A more inclusive, brain-aligned approach begins with physiological safety, then builds to emotional and social strategies.
Imagine a classroom where every child—regardless of background, trauma history, or sensory needs—can genuinely access the emotional tools provided. Imagine educators feeling confident that their interventions meet students exactly where they are, rather than unintentionally exacerbating frustration and exclusion.
III. How YOU can Support Your Community
Each of us can contribute to supporting our students, colleagues, peers, children, and families..
Occupational & Clinical Therapists
Your role is essential for integrating sensory readiness into SEL:
- Initiate conversations about screening for sensory readiness before implementing cognitive-emotional strategies
- Advocate for incorporating sensory-informed models, like what is taught in the Alert Program® Online Course
- Suggest key staff working with special needs students complete the Alert Program® Online Course
- Support implementation of self-regulation strategies across all environments
School & District Leaders
You set the stage for systemic change:
- Map out district-wide training needs around physiological regulation
- Identify champions at each school (educators inclined toward sensory-aware practices)
- Ask key staff working with special needs students complete the Alert Program® Online Course
- Encourage support staff to deepen their understanding with advanced resources like Your Best Self Online Course.
- Align your Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework to position sensory readiness at the foundational level
Teachers, Classroom Aides & School Staff
Your daily interactions can transform the classroom environment:
- Make district leaders aware of available trainings to support professional education in self-regulation
- If district wide trainings are not provided, teachers and classroom staff can still individually access the Alert Program® Online Trainings
- Request targeted, sensory-informed training sessions led by occupational therapists or trauma-informed coaches
- Reflect on your own self-regulation practices. Consider resources like Your Best Self Online Course to strengthen your own understanding of self-regulation
Parents & Caregivers
Your voice and support bridge home and school:
- Communicate proactively with educators, asking questions like: “Could an occupational therapist or sensory specialist help us better understand the underlying causes of these behaviors?”
- Align strategies at home with sensory-informed practices your child encounters at school.
- Prioritize your own self-regulation. Consider taking courses like Your Best Self to help foster a calm, regulated home environment.
For Anyone Who Wants to Help (Regardless of Role)
Change begins with understanding and empathy:
- Learn how sensory-motor regulation shapes behavior and emotional responses.
- Share a single new insight with someone in your network (teachers, peers, or parents).
- Shift the common response from “What’s wrong with this child?” to a more empathetic inquiry: “What’s happening in this child’s body?”
Self-regulation isn’t a luxury… It is foundational for meaningful learning, authentic connection, and lasting well-being. It’s time to stop expecting children to articulate their feelings before they have the sensory foundation to truly experience them. Real emotional growth begins in the body, not in words alone.
Let’s start with the body. Then build upward!
Subscribe now so you do not miss Part 3. In the meantime, explore the Alert Program® Online Course and Your Best Self: The Alert Program® for All, or contact us for group discounts.
References:
- Durlak, J. A. (2022). Universal school-based SEL programs: A critical review of conditions and mechanisms. [Manuscript].
- Dussault, K. (2024). The role of emotional regulation in executive functioning and academic success. [Manuscript].
