How might implementing mindfulness lessons with special education students whose primary disability area is an emotional behavioral disorder, impact student behavior and their attention following a mindfulness lesson?

Pam Gantner


Seminar Title


How might implementing mindfulness lessons with special education students whose primary disability area is an emotional behavioral disorder, impact student behavior and their attention following a mindfulness lesson?


Concept/Strategy

Focus of the Research


Self-awareness, Self-regulation, Empathy, Mindfulness


Grade Level

Research Was Applied


Elementary


Relevant Grade Level

Connections


Elementary


Discipline

Where Research Was Applied


Special Education


Additional Discipline Areas

I see Application to


OT


Invitation/Commercial


Blurting out, blaming others, unfocused, impulsive. Does this describe some of the behaviors you see in your students? With all the talk about being mindful these days, do you ever wonder what being mindful is all about? Could incorporating mindfulness have an impact on your students’ behavior? Breathe in...Breathe out... mindfulness works on your toughest behaviors. It’s principal approved and safe for all kids. I have found that it calms, centers and can help to eliminate some problem behaviors. By adding in breathing exercises and meditation, you’ve just supercharged your behavior interventions. It has the power of calling the principal, without the damaging side effects of being singled out. Implemented in a general education or special education classroom, it’ll make your classroom look, feel and sound better. Mindfulness...the behavior specialist! But wait, there’s more! If you come to this session, I’ll provide you with some take-home resources you can use in your classroom on Monday. If you’d like to contribute to a discussion on mindfulness and its impact on student behavior than this is the session for you. Check out the abstract below and register soon. Dress comfortably, no yoga mat required, just your willingness to share in the discussion.


Abstract


Pam Gantner, occupational therapist Apple Valley Blended 2 Learning Community pagant16@smumn.edu The question guiding my research is as follows: How might implementing mindfulness lessons with special education students, whose primary disability area is an emotional behavioral disorder, impact student behavior in unstructured settings and their attention following a mindfulness lesson? After reviewing a few mindfulness-based curriculums and consulting with a teacher who had implemented mindfulness practices with her students, I landed on the MindUP© curriculum for grades K-2, created by the Goldie Hawn Foundation. It included lessons that aligned with the concepts identified in my review of the literature. The curriculum’s lessons also corresponded with the behaviors that I had hoped to seek a change in with my students in special education. A review of the literature suggested several concepts that could help bring about the changes I am seeking. As a result of my literature review, the student behaviors I targeted for change included: self-awareness, empathy, and attention. Skill development for myself focused on implementing lessons, using the MindUP© curriculum for grades K-2, creating and supplementing the lessons with engaging activities as extensions to the lessons, and researching appropriate breathing techniques and meditation videos. My assessment of the way mindfulness practices make a difference in student behavior included 1) a pre and post inventory of general education teacher’s perspectives on each individual student’s behavior 2) daily teacher ratings of students behavior in specialist classes (music, technology, physical education, media, and art) and 3) the use of an attention app following mindfulness lessons. I had the students “play” the ColorFlash attention app on their school-issued iPads and recorded their score. Through my research, I decided to implement the MindUp© curriculum twice weekly with a targeted group of special education students. The trend of my data revealed that the mindfulness lessons had a slightly positive correlation with improvement on all three behaviors of self-control, attending and empathy according to daily ratings of specialist teachers. There was no significant improvement in students’ scores on the ColorFlash app following mindfulness lessons over time. Lastly, I am anxiously awaiting to receive all the post inventories from the general education teachers and analyzing that data. I will share the rest of my findings during my session.