Brain Lab: Reason Station

Why Reason Comes Last

The prefrontal cortex helps with many of the higher-level thinking skills kids use throughout the school day: focusing attention, planning, making decisions, controlling impulses, solving problems, shifting between ideas, and thinking through what to do next.

When a child's nervous system is overwhelmed, it can be harder to access those skills. That's one reason we don't begin the Brain Lab by immediately asking a child to think harder, explain themselves, or solve a problem. We start with the body, move through connection, and then give the thinking brain an opportunity to come back online.

By the time a child reaches the Reason Station, we're looking for something slightly different: Is their brain becoming available for thinking and learning again?

Reason Can Be Really Simple

There doesn't have to be a problem to talk about.

Sometimes Reason might mean doing a puzzle, playing a logic game, completing a maze, building something, sorting or sequencing, drawing, or doing another short activity that requires a little focus and thought.

I liked having activities like these in the Brain Lab because they gave kids a chance to use their thinking brains again without immediately sending them from regulation back into the demands of the classroom. It was almost a bridge between the Brain Lab and learning.

For one child, that might be completing a small puzzle. For another, it might be figuring out a brain teaser or building something. The activity doesn't need to be difficult. We're simply giving the child an opportunity to engage attention, problem-solving, planning, or flexible thinking and notice how that feels.

Sometimes There Is Something to Work Through

Other Brain Lab visits happen because something difficult occurred. Maybe there was a conflict, a frustrating classroom experience, a mistake, or a behavior that needs to be addressed.

In those situations, Reason can also be the place where we talk through what happened, practice an I-Statement, have a restorative circle, consider another person's perspective, solve a problem, make a plan, or think about whether something needs to be repaired.

The difference is that we're doing that after the child has had opportunities to regulate and connect, when they're more likely to be able to participate in the conversation.

"Shouldn't they learn to follow the rules??"

Students would sometimes be sent to the Brain Lab because of a behavior. Many times, the adults became frustrated because a child should know the rule. They may have explained it perfectly yesterday. They may even be able to tell you exactly what they should have done instead.

Knowing something when you're regulated and being able to access that knowledge when your nervous system is overwhelmed are two different things.

That's an important shift in how we respond to behavior. Instead of assuming, “They know better, so they're choosing not to do better,” we can also wonder, “Was their thinking brain available to them in that moment?”

Then Reason becomes the time when we can revisit what happened, practice the skill, think about other choices, and help make that pathway easier to access the next time.

The Brain Lab is for support, not punishment

The Brain Lab should never be used as a punishment or consequence. It is a supportive space where kids can regulate, connect, reflect, and get their brains ready to learn again. A child may visit after a difficult moment, but they may also come simply because they notice their engine is running fast or slow and need some help getting back to a more regulated state.