The practice of mindfulness helps to calm your mind, ground your body and keep your focus on the present. Practicing mindfulness has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, reduce challenging behavior, improve attention and focus, boost learning and cognitive performance, strengthen emotional intelligence, foster engagement and enhance self-regulation. Research shows mindfulness practices can be helpful in supporting students with autism, not to mention their educators.
Mindfulness
Can Individuals with Developmental Disabilities Learn and Benefit from Mindfulness?
In reviewing 12 studies on mindfulness and individuals with developmental disabilities, this paper show that mindfulness intervention can significantly reduce certain behavioral and/or psychological challenges of people with developmental disabilities. This paper explores the characteristics and objectives of mindfulness practices, their positive effects, and the accommodations made to meet the needs of those with developmental disabilities.
A Systematic Review of Mindfulness Intervention for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities: Long-term Practice and Long Lasting Effects
Can individuals with developmental disabilities learn mindfulness? If so, with what result? A systematic literature review identified 12 studies that taught mindfulness practice to individuals with mild to severe developmental disabilities, demonstrating that mindfulness intervention could significantly reduce the behavioural and/or psychological problems of this population. The majority of these mindfulness intervention studies were longitudinal, featuring long intervention periods and long lasting intervention effects. This paper analyses the characteristics and objectives of mindfulness interventions, along with their effects, focusing on the adjustments made to intervention content and instruction strategies to meet the specific requirements of individuals with developmental disabilities. The potential for improving mindfulness interventions for people with developmental disabilities is also discussed.
Hwang, Y.-S., Kearney, P. (2012). A systematic review of mindfulness intervention for individuals with developmental disabilities: Long-term practice and long lasting effects. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 34, 314-326.
Soles of the Feet: The Benefits of a Mindfulness Practice for Students with ASD
This study investigated whether Soles of the Feet, a mindfulness-based program, can reduce challenging behavior in children with ASD. Three 9-10 year old children with ASD participated in the study in an elementary school setting. Results showed that from baseline to post-treatment of a Soles of the Feet practice, all three students showed a stable decrease in observed challenging behavior.
Soles of the Feet Mindfulness-Based Programs for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Challenging Behavior
Objectives To examine whether a brief mindfulness-based program (MBP) reduces observable challenging behavior in elementary students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), when delivered one-on-one by a natural intervention agent. Methods Using a concurrent multiple baseline design, we examined whether Soles of the Feet (SoF) reduces challenging behavior in children with ASD when delivered by a school staff member in an elementary school setting. Three 9-to-10-yearold children with ASD, presenting with high rates of challenging behavior and IQ scores above 85, were recruited from a private special education school. The school mental health counselor (MHC) was trained on SoF over 8 h and deemed competent after receiving 100% on a fidelity checklist. Following baseline data collection, the MHC implemented SoF across five 20–30-min sessions, one-on-one with each student, and fidelity of implementation was monitored. Results Results found that, from baseline to post-treatment, all three students showed a stable and decreasing trend of observed challenging behavior in individually identified problematic contexts, representing a strong effect (NAP = 100%). Teacher social validity ratings indicated the acceptability, feasibility, and effectiveness of SoF for use in school settings, while two of three students indicated that the treatment was socially valid. Although teacher-rated overall challenging behavior did not decrease for all students, SoF reduced individually defined observable challenging behavior for each student in specific targeted contexts. Conclusions MBPs may provide a way for children with ASD to self-manage challenging behaviors, which may ameliorate the need for more intensive individual interventions in schools. Keywords Mindfulness · Soles of the Feet · Autism spectrum disorder ·
Shah, M., Moskowitz, L. J., Felver, J.C. (2022). Soles of the Feet Mindfulness-Based Program for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Challenging Behavior. Mindfulness, 13, 1342-1353. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-01887-7
Mindfulness and Parenting with ASD
In this proof-of-concept study, the authors assessed the effects of providing mindfulness-based positive behavior support (MBPBS) training to three mothers on the challenging and compliance behaviors of their adolescents with ASD. Results showed that the adolescents' challenging behaviors decreased and compliance behaviors increased with the motheres' training in MBPBS. Reductions in the mothers' stress levels were also correlated with the training.
Mindfulness-based Positive Behavior Support (MBPBS) for Mothers of Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Effects on Adolescents’ Behavior and Parental Stress
Some parents have to deal with the challenging behaviors of their children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including aggressive and destructive behaviors. While pharmacological and behavioral interventions have been the treatments of choice, sometimes the pharmacological treatments are not very effective or the behavioral interventions are so labor intensive that parents fail to implement them consistently, thus leading to treatment failure and parental stress. In this proof-of-concept study, we assessed the effects of providing mindfulness-based positive behavior support (MBPBS) training to three mothers on the challenging and compliance behaviors of their adolescents with ASD. The MBPBS program included a series of meditations aimed at personal transformation during an 8-week program. The training in mindfulness-based practices was paired with applications to their interactions with their adolescent children using a positive behavior support model, whereby the mothers learned how to apply behavioral contingencies with intuitive awareness. Results showed that the adolescents’ challenging behaviors decreased and compliance behaviors increased commensurate with the mothers’ training in MBPBS. In addition, statistically significant reductions in the mothers’stress levels were correlated with the MBPBS training. These findings provide initial support for MBPBS in assisting parents to effectively manage the challenging behaviors of their children with ASD and in increasing their positive social interactions with them, but without raising their own stress levels.
Singh, N. N., Lancioni, G. E., Winton, A. W., Karazsia, B., Myers, R. E., Latham, L. L., & Singh, J. (2014). Mindfulness-based positive behavior support (MBPBS) for mothers of adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Effects on adolescents’ behavior and parental stress. Mindfulness, 5(6), 646-657.
