{"id":4957,"date":"2016-06-21T13:55:25","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T19:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sunrisertc.com\/?p=4957"},"modified":"2024-03-04T16:14:50","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T22:14:50","slug":"mindfulness-in-school-manage-adhd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sunrisertc.com\/mindfulness-in-school-manage-adhd\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Mindfulness in School to Manage ADHD"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Sunrise, we either start or finish each class period with a mindfulness activity. \u00a0This\u00a0activity can take a variety of forms: \u00a0such as a short session of meditation, mindfully listening to various calming sounds, mindfully looking at a picture, or even mindfully feeling kinetic sand. \u00a0While using mindfulness in school <\/a>has been extremely successful in helping with a variety of conditions, I have especially seen it help with ADHD.<\/p>\n

Benefits of Using Mindfulness in School:<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Developing better awareness of attention and learning to be less distracted.<\/li>\n
  2. Learning to take a step back and observe one\u2019s thoughts and feelings so they don\u2019t drive our sense of self or understanding of our life.<\/li>\n
  3. Managing stress better by reacting less emotionally, and filling your resource pool, ie. your \u201ctank\u201d of energy or ability to self-regulate.<\/li>\n
  4. Becoming aware of when to be self-compassionate about ADHD symptoms. Knowing when to change unhelpful patterns of thinking, feeling, or acting.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Due to mindfulness activities, I have seen all four of these areas improve for students with ADHD. I have noticed that they become far more aware of how they think. In doing so, students\u00a0are able to work with teachers<\/a> on how they can make the classroom environment \u201cwork\u201d for them. \u00a0As a next step, they are able to advocate exactly\u00a0what they need in order to be more successful.
    \nI have also noticed students handle major projects better. \u00a0Large projects usually are a great source of stress and anxiety for students with ADHD, because they require organization and time management. \u00a0By using mindfulness my students have been able to detach and observe their thoughts and feelings, and then break down the assignments into manageable \u201cchunks\u201d.<\/p>\n

    Mindfulness Also Helps Teachers<\/h2>\n

    Lastly, I have noticed that our mindfulness practices<\/a> also\u00a0help teachers, especially myself. \u00a0I was diagnosed with ADHD in the mid-1970\u2019s, before it was even called Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. \u00a0As a teacher, the classroom can be a very distracting environment. \u00a0Mindfulness has allowed me to be more aware of how I am thinking in the moment. It enables me to realize when I am being distracted, so I am then able to refocus. \u00a0With practice, I have been able to do this almost automatically. \u00a0Mindfulness has also helped me with handling the stress that can sometimes come with teaching. \u00a0It has been a great way to take a quick mental break and fill up my resource pool.
    \nMindfulness has been very successful in helping our students with ADHD here at     Sunrise<\/a>. \u00a0As we continue to implement these practices in the classroom, I look forward to seeing our students become more and more academically successful.
    \nResources:<\/strong>
    \n    Sarkis Ph.D., Stephanie. \u00a0\u201cADHD & Mindfulness: \u00a0An Interview with Lidia Zylowska MD\u201d<\/a>,\u00a0Psychologytoday.com. 2012<\/a>.
    \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    At Sunrise, we either start or finish each class period with a mindfulness activity. \u00a0This\u00a0activity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,26],"tags":[19,129],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunrisertc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunrisertc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunrisertc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunrisertc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunrisertc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4957"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sunrisertc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7810,"href":"https:\/\/sunrisertc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4957\/revisions\/7810"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunrisertc.com\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sunrisertc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunrisertc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sunrisertc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}