Examining the social emotional impact of a brief mindfulness program for students in special education

Abstract

As the popularity of both clinic- and school-based mindfulness-based interventions (MBI’s) has grown, high quality empirical support for the efficacy of these interventions has been limited. School-based MBI’s are gaining popularity as components of strong social-emotional learning curricula, and they are typically delivered as part of a universal intervention. Some initial support for school-based MBI’s exists, but the majority of studies have assessed intervention efficacy with typically developing students without identified mental health concerns, developmental delays, or learning disabilities. This study examined the impact of a brief mindfulness intervention on student behavior, as well as student and teacher stress levels. Using repeated measures ANOVAs, paired samples t-tests, and qualitative focus group data, findings suggested some support for the value of an MBI for students in self-contained special education settings. The study was limited by a small sample size and ensuing limited power, but initial findings provide support for the continued examination of mindfulness as a school-based intervention for students from a wide variety of academic, cognitive, and behavioral skill levels.