Co-Regulation

Co-regulation is the process by which one person helps another manage their emotional or physiological state, through presence, calming behaviours, modelling coping strategies, or environmental adjustment. It is well established in developmental psychology (parent helping a dysregulated child) and increasingly applied to adult care relationships, including autism, dementia, and chronic-illness contexts. Accessibility design for co-regulation typically focuses on giving supporters timely, appropriate awareness of the supported person's state without stripping the person's autonomy - a delicate balance that badly-designed alerts can easily tip into surveillance.