Tier 2 SEL: Targeted Support Based on Identified Need 

Tier 2 SEL: Targeted Support Based on Identified Need

Tier 2 SEL provides targeted, supplemental support for students who need more than universal SEL instruction and supports alone.

Tier 2 does not replace Tier 1. Students receiving targeted SEL support continue to participate in strong universal practices while receiving additional instruction, practice, feedback, connection, or support matched to an identified social-emotional need.

Keep doing your tier 1 SEL strategies!

Is This an SEL Skill Need?

Before selecting an SEL intervention, consider:

Does the student need to LEARN or PRACTICE a skill? or Is something getting in the way of using a skill they already have?

For example:

Student isn't participating in group work. 

That doesn't automatically mean “teach relationship skills.”

The team might discover:

• the student doesn't know how to enter a group → skill

• the student has experienced peer rejection → relationship/belonging

• the task is academically inaccessible → instruction/access

• the student is overwhelmed by the environment → regulation/environment

• the student doesn't feel culturally or psychologically safe → context/environment

• the student can demonstrate the skill elsewhere → performance/context, not necessarily a skill deficit

🤝 Connection & Belonging

For students who may benefit from increased connection to peers or trusted adults.

Possible supports:
Mentoring • 2x10 • Lunch Bunch • Peer Mentoring • Check-In/Check-Out • Rose, Bud, Thorn

🧠 Self-Regulation & Coping

For students who need additional instruction, modeling, practice, or feedback around regulating emotions and responding to stress.

Possible supports:
Coping Skills • Relaxation Strategies • Bear Belly Breathing • Sensory Supports • Emotion Menu

💬 Relationships & Social Problem-Solving

For students needing targeted instruction and practice navigating interactions with others.

Possible supports:|
Relationship Skills • Social Skills • Conflict Resolution • Social Stories • Peer Supports

🎯 Self-Management & Executive Skills

For students needing additional support with planning, organization, goal-setting, monitoring, or persistence.

Possible supports:|
Organizational Skills • Self-Monitoring • WOOP • Check-In/Check-Out

🗣️ Communication & Help-Seeking

For students who need additional support identifying needs, communicating emotions, seeking assistance, or accessing trusted adults. Help-seeking is a two-way process: Students need the skills and opportunities to ask for help—and adults need to be accessible, responsive, and trustworthy when they do. 

Possible supports:|

• Identifying & Connecting With Trusted Adults

• Check-In/Check-Out

• Self-Advocacy Skill Building

• Emotion Identification & Communication

• “How to Ask for Help” Scripts & Practice

• Nonverbal Help-Seeking Signals

• Break/Help Cards

• Communication Choice Boards

• Role-Play & Rehearsal

• Assertive Communication Skills

• Problem-Solving & Decision-Making

• Identifying When & Where to Get Help

• Help-Seeking Plans for High-Stress Situations

• Structured Adult Check-Ins

• Peer Support / Peer Mentoring

Center Student Voice

Tier 2 supports are most effective when students are active partners in the process. Whenever developmentally appropriate, include the student in identifying strengths and needs, understanding what is getting in the way, and determining what support may help.

Start by asking:

• What feels hardest right now?

• What already helps?

• Who or what helps you feel successful and connected?

• What would you like to be different?

Listen for strengths, needs, barriers, relationships, and conditions for success—not just the problem adults are seeing. 

🎯 Match the Support to the Need

Before selecting a Tier 2 SEL support, connect what the student needs to what you will do and how you will know if it is helping.

NEED → GOAL → SUPPORT → MEASURE

🔎 IDENTIFY THE NEED
What specifically does the student need help with?
Define the skill, barrier, or area of need—not just the behavior you are seeing.

🎯 DEFINE THE GOAL
What do we want to see change?
Identify a specific, meaningful outcome that can be observed or measured.

🧩 MATCH THE SUPPORT
What targeted support directly addresses this need?
Choose the strategy, intervention, frequency, and intensity based on the identified need.

📈 CHOOSE THE MEASURE
How will we know if it is helping?
Identify a simple way to monitor the student's response over time.

Example:

Need: Student has difficulty seeking adult help when overwhelmed

→ Goal: Student will access a trusted adult when support is needed

→ Support: Scheduled check-ins + explicit help-seeking instruction and practice
→ Measure: Student self-reflection + frequency of successful help-seeking 

Start with the need—not the intervention.

A familiar or available intervention is not necessarily the right intervention. The support should be intentionally matched to what the student needs.