Theme 3 - Are children able to be mindfull to the neceseary extent?
Mindfulness training in early childhood
Zelazo, P. D., & Lyons, K. E. (2012). The potential benefits of mindfulness training in early childhood: A developmental social cognitive neuroscience perspective. Child development perspectives, 6(2), 154-160.
Early childhood is marked by substantial development in the self-regulatory skills supporting school readiness and socioemotional competence.
Evidence from developmental social cognitive neuroscience suggests that these skills develop as a function of changes in a dynamic interaction between more top-down (controlled) regulatory processes and more bottom-up (automatic) influences on behavior.
Mindfulness training—using age-appropriate activities to exercise children's reflection on their moment-to-moment experiences—may support the development of self-regulation by targeting top-down processes while lessening bottom-up influences (such as anxiety, stress, curiosity)
Creates conditions conducive to reflection, both during problem solving and in more playful, exploratory ways.
Influences curiosity, this might be a bad thing
hese exercises also encourage a nonjudgmental and nonreactive attitude that may directly attenuate influences that interfere with reflection (such as cortisol/stress; e.g., Pechtel & Pizzagalli, 2010; Sapolsky, 1996) and amplify influences that promote it (such as dopamine/approach-oriented emotions such as happiness and curiosity
On the basis of the optimal balance model and the iterative reprocessing model, these changes should interact to foster improvements in self-regulation.
Nurturing mindfulness in children
Greenberg, M. T., & Harris, A. R. (2012). Nurturing mindfulness in children and youth: Current state of research. Child development perspectives, 6(2), 161-166.
There is considerable concern that children and youth experience less than optimal physical and mental health and that it affects a wide range of outcomes, including academic performance, substance use, violence, and obesity
There has been a strong call to develop new ideas to nurture children’s health and well-being and increasing interest in how to develop habits of mind and behavior that build resilience in the face of everyday adversity
Recent years have witnessed an explosion of interest in secular mindfulness strategies (including meditation, attention training, yoga, and other techniques) as methods to support wellness. Research with adults has clearly shown benefits for promoting health, alleviating pain, and reducing depression and anxiety
Although contemplative practices may take numerous forms, the primary platforms have been yoga and meditative practice. Given four recent systematic reviews concerning meditative and yoga interventions with children and youth
no reviewed studies were of sufficient quality to produce conclusive evidence yoga produces substancial results
Meditative interventions with clinical and indicated child populations have primarily involved some form of mindfulness meditation or transcendental meditation (TM).
mindfulness meditation and demonstrated improvements in cardiovascular functioning for African American adolescents with high blood pressure or risk for hypertension compared to controls receiving a health education program
These reports also indicated decreased rates of absenteeism, suspension, hostility, and school infractions. It is important to note that TM uses a mantra and may be considered religious in nature and to violate the separation of church and state in public education.
Several studies (Black et al., 2009; Burke, 2009) have examined meditation in youth with academic problems, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and learning disabilities. These studies reported improvements in outcomes such as attention, internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, anxiety, and academic performance
Meditation and clinical methods seem to have an positive effect
Claims of benefit
Weare, K. (2012). Evidence for the impact of mindfulness on children and young people. The mindfulness in schools project in association with mood disorders centre.
Mindfulness for young people is easy to carry out, fits into a wide range of contexts, is enjoyed by both students and teachers, and does no harm.
Does no harm - this claim will be inspected in learning outcome 3
These changes are not all in the imagination of the meditator. Brain imaging studies on adults are showing that mindfulness meditation reliably and profoundly alters the structure and function of the brain to improve the quality of both thought and feeling.
Well conducted mindfulness interventions have been shown to be capable of addressing the problems of the young people who take part, and improve their wellbeing, reduce worries, anxiety, distress, reactivity and bad behaviour, improve sleep, self esteem, and bring about greater calmness, relaxation, and self-‐regulation and awareness.
Mindfulness has also been shown to contribute directly to the development of cognitive and performance skills in the young
They often become more focused, more able to approach situations from a fresh perspective, use existing knowledge more effectively, and pay attention.