Date
Spring 2018
Document Type
Poster Session
Department
Occupational Therapy
Advisor
Mary Anderson OTD, OTR/L
Abstract
We collected evidence on the use of mindfulness-based interventions in elementary school classrooms. Our community partner was Jill Schacht OTR/L who is the occupational therapist in the three elementary schools in the Sanford School District. The children in these schools often have difficulty succeeding in academics due to anxiety, difficulty with self-regulation, attention, executive functioning, and "behavioral" problems. The evidence collected was a combination of level I and level II evidence. Findings indicate that mindfulness-based interventions in the classroom aid in decreases in anxiety, depressive symptoms, negative affect, and attentional difficulties. Findings also showed increases in executive functioning, behavioral regulation, emotional regulation, social skills, self control, social-emotional development, metacognition, prosocial behaviors, academic competency and better stress response. This evidence suggests that a variety of mindfulness based interventions utilized in the classroom are useful in helping students succeed academically, socially, as well as in settings outside of school.
Start Date
4-20-2018 9:00 AM
Recommended Citation
Giammarino, Jocelyn and Macaluso, Mary, "Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Elementary School Students" (2018). Thinking Matters Symposium Archive. 152.
https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/thinking_matters/152
