Mindfulness and children with additional support needs
Mindfulness is fast becoming common practice in mainstream education. It can foster wellbeing, improve self-confidence and self-esteem and provide coping mechanisms, which contribute to positive mental health and wellbeing.
I have heard the opinion that children with exceptional healthcare needs will not ‘get’ mindfulness. This is not the case, mindfulness is even more relevant for these children and is proved to have a hugely beneficial and often life changing impact.
What is Mindfulness?
Essentially, mindfulness is the ability to rest the mind “in the moment”, whether focused on a specific object or image (meditation) or on a task (an exercise or a movement). We can create a sense of relaxation through concentration – emotional stillness rather than arousal or distraction. Aine Murphy, Mindfulness Teacher, has made a recording to help calm and soothe both yourself and your child. This recording can be accessed via this link.
Why is it relevant?
Often young people with exceptional healthcare needs have to get used to things ‘being done’ to them or around them. Mindfulness provides space around them and within them. Through mindfulness you can create an atmosphere of calm with a focus on the young person’s holistic being, not just their physical needs. This means taking time to focus on where they are emotionally, their levels of stress, anxiety and pain while building trust and communication. Mindfulness activities can be adapted so they are accessible to these young people helping them manage their own stress responses, feel good and have fun as well as relax and find space for learning.
Top Tips
- Setting up for comfort – make sure the young person is in a position that they can relax –e.g. Hoisted on to a bean bag or wedge
- Remove clutter – remember that clutter is not just visual; it is also sound, chat, computers and technology in the background, staff focusing on other jobs/things in the room.
- All staff should patriciate along with the young person (or leave the room)
- Make sure the environment is safe – nothing within arms reach
- Create an atmosphere – dim the lights, use coloured/fairy lights, calm music, have a smell with a diffuser/oil burner
- Calm music- make sure it is only used for mindfulness so that the young person learns to recognise it as the relax music
- As much as possible use the same person/voice using the same repetitive words each session (you may want to create your own simple script)
- Try to run the session at the same time each day/week
- Timings of stillness and silence – start off with a few minutes and let the time expand each week
Observations/Empirical Evidence
- Increased relaxation of tone
- Pupils becoming still and watchful
- Pupils are seen to respond to the atmosphere more quickly and deeply as the weeks go on
- Noticeable improvement in anxiety attacks especially in times of transition
- Changed facial expressions for example lots of smiling, being watchful, stilling of eye movement and facial tension.
- Build up of trust and relationships
- Reduced agitation at the end of the day and other times of transition