Learning Disabilities

Mindfulness Training Might Improve Need Satisfaction and Anxiety in Children with Learning Disabilities

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Mindfulness Training Might Improve Need Satisfaction and Anxiety in Children with Learning Disabilities

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness is a practice that can help children with LD manage stress and anxiety • Daily meditation gives children a relaxation tool they can call upon when stress levels rise.” – Marcia Eckerd

 

Learning disabilities are quite common, affecting an estimated 4.8% of children in the U.S. These disabilities present problems for the children in learning mathematics, reading and writing. These difficulties, in turn, affect performance in other academic disciplines. The presence of learning disabilities can have serious consequences for the psychological well-being of the children, including their self-esteem and social skills. In addition, anxiety, depression, and conduct disorders often accompany learning disabilities.

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to lower anxiety and depression and to improve self-esteem and social skills, and to improve conduct disorders. It has also been shown to improve attention, memory, and learning and increase success in school. So, it would make sense to explore the application of mindfulness training for the treatment of children with severe learning disabilities.

 

In today’s Research News article “Impact of a Mindfulness-Based Intervention on Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Internalized Symptoms in Elementary School Students With Severe Learning Disabilities: Results From a Randomized Cluster Trial.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02715/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1184693_69_Psycho_20191217_arts_A), Malboeuf-Hurtubise and colleagues recruited children with severe learning disabilities who were 9 to 12 years of age and attended a special education class. They received an 8-week training program that met once a week for 60 minutes. One group received mindfulness training, including body scan, walking, and breath meditations. The second group received social skills development training, including finding purpose in life, becoming responsible and engaged citizens, and developing a sense of belonging to the school and community. The children were measured before and after training and 3 months later for anxiety, depression, and need satisfaction, including autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

 

They found that in comparison to baseline both groups had significant improvements in competence and significant decreases in anxiety. There were no significant differences between the mindfulness and social skills groups. Because there wasn’t a no-treatment condition present it is not possible to discern if both conditions produced the observed improvements or that they were due to a contaminating factor such as participant of experimenter bias, Hawthorn effects, or simply time-based effects. But mindfulness training has been repeatedly found in highly controlled experiments to reduce anxiety. So, it is likely that the change observed in this study was due to the mindfulness training.

 

This is a very vulnerable group of children and improvements in emotions and feelings of competence are potentially very significant for the improvement of their lives. So, further research is warranted.

 

“mindful meditation decreases anxiety and detrimental self-focus, which, in turn, promotes social skills and academic success for students with learning disabilities.” – Kristine Burgess

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Malboeuf-Hurtubise C, Taylor G and Mageau GA (2019) Impact of a Mindfulness-Based Intervention on Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Internalized Symptoms in Elementary School Students With Severe Learning Disabilities: Results From a Randomized Cluster Trial. Front. Psychol. 10:2715. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02715

 

Background: Mindfulness is hypothesized to lead to more realistic appraisals of the three basic psychological needs, which leads people to benefit from high levels of need satisfaction or helps them make the appropriate changes to improve need satisfaction. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have also shown promise to foster greater basic psychological need satisfaction in students with learning disabilities (LDs).

Objective: The goal of the present study was to evaluate the impact of a MBI on the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs and on internalized symptoms in students with severe LDs. A randomized cluster trial was implemented to compare the progression of need satisfaction, anxiety, and depression symptoms in participants pre- to post-intervention and at follow-up.

Method: Elementary school students with severe LDs (N = 23) in two special education classrooms took part in this study and were randomly attributed to either an experimental or an active control group.

Results: Mixed ANOVAs first showed that the experimental condition did not moderate change over time such that similar effects were observed in the experimental and active control groups. Looking at main effects of time on participants’ scores of autonomy, competence, and relatedness across time, we found a significant within-person effect for the competence need (p = 0.02). Post hoc analyses showed that for both groups, competence scores were significantly higher at post-intervention (p = 0.03) and at follow-up (p = 0.04), when compared to pre-intervention scores. A significant main effect was also found for anxiety levels over time (p = 0.008). Post hoc analyses showed that for both groups, scores were significantly lower at post-intervention (p = 0.01) and at follow-up (p = 0.006), when compared to pre-intervention scores.

Conclusion: Although the MBI seemed useful in increasing the basic psychological need of competence and decreasing anxiety symptoms in students with severe LDs, it was not more useful than the active control intervention that was used in this project. Future studies should verify that MBIs have an added value compared to other types of interventions that can be more easily implemented in school-based settings.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02715/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_1184693_69_Psycho_20191217_arts_A

 

Improve the Physical Fitness of Children and Adolescents with Intellectual Disorders with Tai Chi

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Improve the Physical Fitness of Children and Adolescents with Intellectual Disorders with Tai Chi

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“giving a child beginner skills can be life changing. Qi Gong has the power to bring one physical ease, mental clarity, emotional stability and spiritual awareness. That is worthwhile at any age.” – Donna Henderson

 

Intellectual disabilities involve below average intelligence and relatively slow learning. They are quite common, affecting an estimated 10% of individuals worldwide. These disabilities present problems for the children in learning mathematics, reading and writing. These difficulties, in turn, affect performance in other academic disciplines. The presence of intellectual disabilities can have serious consequences for the psychological well-being of the children, including their self-esteem and social skills. In addition, anxiety, depression, and conduct disorders often accompany learning disabilities. Not as well known is that children with intellectual disabilities also have motor problems.

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to improve attention, memory, and learning and increase success in school. Exercise has been shown to improve psychomotor performance in children with intellectual disabilities.  Tai Chi practice is both an exercise and a mindfulness practice. It has been found to be effective for an array of physical and psychological issues. So, it makes sense to examine Tai Chi practice for children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities.

 

In today’s Research News article “Tai Chi as an Alternative Exercise to Improve Physical Fitness for Children and Adolescents with Intellectual Disability.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6479776/), Kong and colleagues recruited children and adolescents (aged 10-18 years) who had an intellectual disability (IQ < 70). They were randomly assigned to either no treatment, or to 12 weeks of twice a week 1 hour of either aerobic dance exercise, or Tai Chi training. They were measured before and after training for body size, body fat, flexibility, balance, coordination in upper and lower extremities, muscular strength (grip strength), leg power, muscular endurance, and cardiorespiratory fitness.

 

They found that the aerobic dance was more strenuous (heart rate mean of 105 beats per minute) than Tai Chi practice (heart rate mean of 97 beats per minute). Compared to baseline the aerobic dance group had significant increases in body mass index, sit-ups, and 6-min walk test. The Tai Chi group had significant increases in vertical jump, lower-limb coordination, and upper-limb coordination, and balance.

 

These results demonstrate that exercise is beneficial for children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities helping them overcome some of their motor problems. Aerobic dance and Tai Chi practice are both beneficial, but have different physical benefits. Aerobic dance appears to increase body size and fitness while Tai Chi practice appears to improve leg strength and limb coordination as well as balance. It would probably make sense in the future to combine the two exercises into a single program to produce maximum benefits. These programs may be very helpful for the children and adolescents in correcting motor problems. It was not tested but this could improve their self-esteem.

 

So, improve the physical fitness of children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities with Tai Chi.

 

“Kids with special needs benefit from Tai Chi.  Because Tai Chi works on the inside of the body it helps to relieve the sense of inner turmoil and confusion that gets us off balance.  It can alleviate stomachaches, nervousness, fear, anger and frustration.  It helps improve focus, concentration and self-control.” – Cari Shurman

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Kong, Z., Sze, T. M., Yu, J. J., Loprinzi, P. D., Xiao, T., Yeung, A. S., … Zou, L. (2019). Tai Chi as an Alternative Exercise to Improve Physical Fitness for Children and Adolescents with Intellectual Disability. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(7), 1152. doi:10.3390/ijerph16071152

 

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Tai Chi (TC) on anthropometric parameters and physical fitness among children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID). Methods: Sixty-six Chinese individuals engaged in sport-related extracurricular activities (TC and aerobic exercise (AE)) as exercise interventions or arts/crafts activities as a control condition (CON). The experimental protocol consisted of a baseline assessment, a 12-week intervention period, and a post-intervention assessment. Results: Significant interaction effect was only observed in the performance of a 6-min walk test. After 12 weeks of intervention, the AE group had significant changes in body mass index (p = 0.006, d = 0.11), sit-ups (p = 0.030 and d = 0.57), and 6-min walk test (p = 0.005, d = 0.89). Significant increases in vertical jump (p = 0.048, d = 0.41), lower-limb coordination (p = 0.008, d = 0.53), and upper-limb coordination (p = 0.048, d = 0.36) were observed in the TC group. Furthermore, the TC group demonstrated significantly greater improvements on balance compared to the control group (p = 0.011). Conclusions: TC may improve leg power and coordination of both lower and upper limbs, while AE may be beneficial for body mass index, sit-ups and cardiorespiratory fitness.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6479776/

 

Reduce Stress and Improve Behavior in Mothers and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder or Intellectual Disabilities with Mindfulness

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Reduce Stress and Improve Behavior in Mothers and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder or Intellectual Disabilities with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“mindfulness meditation helps people with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorder reduce their mental and physical problems.” – Yoon-Suk Hwang

 

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that tends to appear during early childhood and affect the individual throughout their lifetime. It affects a person’s ability to communicate, and interact with others, delays learning of language, makes eye contact or holding a conversation difficult, impairs reasoning and planning, narrows and intensifies interests, produces poor motor skills and sensory sensitivities, and is frequently associated with sleep and gastrointestinal problems. ASD is a serious disorder that impairs the individual’s ability to lead independent lives including complete an education, enter into relationships or find and hold employment. Mindfulness training has been shown to be helpful in treating ASD.

 

Developmental disabilities are a group of conditions due to an impairment in physical, learning, language, or behavior areas. These conditions begin during the developmental period, may impact day-to-day functioning, and usually last throughout a person’s lifetime. Recent estimates in the United States show that about one in six, or about 15%, of children aged 3 through 17 years have one or more developmental disabilities. Many individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are highly aggressive and at time combative.  Caring for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities can be difficult.

 

Providing care for a child with autism or a developmental disability can be particularly challenging. These children’s behavior is characterized, in varying degrees, by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors. These make it difficult to relate to the child and receive the kind of positive feelings that often help to support caregiving. The challenges of caring for a child with autism or a developmental disability require that the parent be able to deal with stress, to regulate their own emotions, and to be sensitive and attentive to their child. These skills are exactly those that are developed in mindfulness training. It improves the psychological and physiological responses to stress. It improves emotion regulation. And it improves the ability to maintain attention and focus in the face of high levels of distraction.

 

In today’s Research News article “Effects of Mindfulness-Based Positive Behavior Support (MBPBS) Training Are Equally Beneficial for Mothers and Their Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder or With Intellectual Disabilities.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00385/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_934868_69_Psycho_20190314_arts_A ), Singh and colleagues recruited mothers of adolescents, aged 13 to 17 years, who had autism or a developmental disability. They were observed and their behavior measured over a 10-week baseline period and then provided a 3-day Mindfulness-Based Positive Behavior Support (MBPBS) program consisting of training in meditation and intervening to produce positive behaviors. Daily home practice was encouraged. They were then measured over the subsequent 30 weeks. Measurements were taken of meditation practice and perceived stress and the child’s aggressive and disruptive behaviors, and compliance with the mother’s requests.

 

They found that during the 10-week baseline that stress levels and the children’s behaviors were stable and unchanging. But during the 30-week follow-up period the mothers had large and significant reductions in perceived stress. They also found that the children displayed large significant increases with compliance with the mother’s requests and large significant decreases in aggressive and disruptive behaviors. Hence the Mindfulness-Based Positive Behavior Support (MBPBS) produced marked benefits for the mothers and also the children with autism or a developmental disability.

 

These are exciting results but the lack of a control condition limits the generalizability of the results. Nevertheless they suggest that a brief, 3-day, program can produce large positive benefits for both the mothers and the children. The improvements in the mothers’ stress levels were probably due to the improvements in the children’s behavior. This all suggests that this or similar programs should be implemented to greatly improve caregiving for children with autism or developmental disabilities.

 

So, reduce stress and improve behavior in mothers and children with autism spectrum disorder or intellectual disabilities with mindfulness.

 

“interventions that target stress reduction in parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities may be an effective way to improve caregiver well-being and have collateral effects on child behavior and parent-child interactions.” – Laura Lee McIntyre

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Singh NN, Lancioni GE, Karazsia BT, Myers RE, Hwang Y-S and Anālayo B (2019) Effects of Mindfulness-Based Positive Behavior Support (MBPBS) Training Are Equally Beneficial for Mothers and Their Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder or With Intellectual Disabilities. Front. Psychol. 10:385. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00385

 

Parenting a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or intellectual disabilities (IDs) can be stressful for many parents. Mindfulness-Based Positive Behavior Support (MBPBS) is a customized mindfulness program that enables parents and other caregivers to reduce their perceived psychological stress to normative levels through mindfulness procedures and to support children with ASD or ID to self-manage their challenging behaviors through positive behavior support (PBS). In this study, we evaluated whether MBPBS would have differential effects on the stress levels of mothers of adolescents with ASD (n = 47) or with ID (n = 45) and the effects of the program on the aggressive, disruptive, and compliance behaviors of their children. Both groups of mothers participated in the 40-week study (10 weeks control and 30 weeks MBPBS program), rated their own stress levels, and collected daily observational data on the adolescents’ behavior. Results showed significant reductions in the level of stress in both groups of mothers, but no differential effects on mothers of children with ASD or with ID. In addition, significant reductions in aggression and disruptive behavior and increases in compliance behaviors were observed in the adolescents in both groups. The results suggest that MBPBS is equally beneficial for mothers of adolescents with ASD or ID. In the present study, although the mothers of children with ID had slightly higher levels of stress at baseline and mothers of children with ASD had lower levels of stress following the MBPBS program, the program can be considered equally effective in reducing the stress levels of both groups of mothers. This suggests that the program may be effective regardless of baseline levels of mothers’ stress.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00385/full?utm_source=F-AAE&utm_medium=EMLF&utm_campaign=MRK_934868_69_Psycho_20190314_arts_A

 

Improve Psychomotor Perform of Intellectually Disabled Children with Yoga

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Improve Psychomotor Perform of Intellectually Disabled Children with Yoga

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Special needs experts agree that yoga activities make a positive impact on individuals with special needs.  These activities improve mobility, strength, and digestion for individuals with disabilities.” – Cara Batema

 

Intellectual disabilities involve below average intelligence and relatively slow learning. They are quite common, affecting an estimated 10% of individuals worldwide. These disabilities present problems for the children in learning mathematics, reading and writing. These difficulties, in turn, affect performance in other academic disciplines. The presence of intellectual disabilities can have serious consequences for the psychological well-being of the children, including their self-esteem and social skills. In addition, anxiety, depression, and conduct disorders often accompany learning disabilities. Not as well known is that children with intellectual disabilities also have motor problems.

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to improve attention, memory, and learning and increase success in school. Exercise has been shown to improve psychomotor performance in children with intellectual disabilities. Yoga is both a mindfulness practice and an exercise that also tends to improve motor ability. So, it would make sense to explore the application of yoga training for the treatment of children with intellectual disabilities.

 

In today’s Research News article “Effect of yoga practices on psycho-motor abilities among intellectually disabled children.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6165980/ ), Pise and colleagues recruited children aged 10 to 15 years from a school for the intellectually disabled. They were randomly assigned to a no-treatment control group or to receive yoga training for 1 hour per day, 5 days per week, for 12 weeks. The practice consisted of relaxation, postures, breathing exercises, and meditation. They were measured before and after training for balance, eye-hand coordination, agility, and reaction time.

 

They found that in comparison to baseline after the yoga training there were significant increases balance, eye-hand coordination, and agility, and decreases in reaction time. In comparison to the no treatment control group, the yoga group after training had significantly greater balance and faster reaction times. Hence, yoga practice appears to improve motor performance in children with intellectual disabilities.

 

 

These results were obtained with a no-treatment control condition. They need to be repeated with an active control condition such as a different exercise to determine if it was yoga practice itself or the exercise provided by yoga practice that was responsible for the improvements. But, nonetheless, the results suggest that yoga practice may be beneficial for children with intellectual disabilities. Improved motor ability might affect their performance in activities and sports and thereby improve their self-esteem.

 

So, improve psychomotor perform of intellectually disabled children with yoga.

 

“Yoga for special needs classes provide a sense of belonging and community. These adaptive yoga classes focus on building strength, developing regulation skills through breathing, improving mobility and maintaining/improving overall health and emotional well-being.” – Project Yoga

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Pise, V., Pradhan, B., & Gharote, M. (2018). Effect of yoga practices on psycho-motor abilities among intellectually disabled children. Journal of exercise rehabilitation, 14(4), 581-585. doi:10.12965/jer.1836290.145

 

Abstract

The children with intellectual disabilities show disorders at motor development and coordination. Hence, the objective of this study was to see the effect of yoga practices on psycho-motor abilities of intellectually disabled children. Seventy intellectually disabled children were divided into experimental group and control group. Both experimental and control group were assessed on the first day and after 12 weeks of the yoga intervention for static balance, eye hand coordination, agility and reaction time. The subjects of experimental group then underwent a training of yoga practices, for 1 hr for a total period of 12 weeks. The result of within group comparison revealed significant improvement in static balance, eye hand coordination, agility, and reaction time (P< 0.001) in subjects of yoga group however no change was observed in control group. The present study demonstrated that 12 weeks of yoga is effective in improving psycho-motor abilities of intellectually disabled children.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6165980/

 

Improve Psychological Well-Being of Children with Learning Disabilities with Mindfulness

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Improve Psychological Well-Being of Children with Learning Disabilities with Mindfulness

 

By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness is a practice that can help children with LD manage stress and anxiety • Daily meditation gives children a relaxation tool they can call upon when stress levels rise” – Marcia Eckerd

 

Learning disabilities are quite common, affecting an estimated 4.8% of children in the U.S. These disabilities present problems for the children in learning mathematics, reading and writing. These difficulties, in turn, affect performance in other academic disciplines. The presence of learning disabilities can have serious consequences for the psychological well-being of the children, including their self-esteem and social skills. In addition, anxiety, depression, and conduct disorders often accompany learning disabilities.

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to lower anxiety and depression and to improve self-esteem and social skills, and to improve conduct disorders. It has also been shown to improve attention, memory, and learning and increase success in school. So, it would make sense to explore the application of mindfulness training for the treatment of children with severe learning disabilities.

 

In today’s Research News article “A Mindfulness-Based Intervention Pilot Feasibility Study for Elementary School Students with Severe Learning Difficulties: Effects on Internalized and Externalized Symptoms from an Emotional Regulation Perspective.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5871167/ ), Malboeuf-Hurtubise and colleagues recruited children with severe learning disabilities who were 9 to 12 years of age and attended a special education class. They received an 8-week mindfulness training program that met once a week for 60 minutes and included body scan, walking, and breath meditations. The children also practiced in class once a week for 30 minutes. They were measured before and after training for mindfulness, anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, aggression, attention, and conduct problems.

 

They found that in comparison to the baseline measurements, after mindfulness training the children evidenced significant improvements in anxiety, depression, aggression, attention, and conduct problems. Hence, after mindfulness training the children showed significant improvements in their psychological well-being and behavior. It should be noted that this was a pilot study and did not contain a control or comparison condition. So, firm conclusions cannot be made. But the results are sufficiently interesting and the magnitude of the effects large enough, that they support the conduct of a large scale randomized controlled clinical trial. If mindfulness training can be definitively shown to improve the psychological well-being and behavior of children with learning disabilities, it will be of great benefit in relieving at least some of the suffering of these unfortunate children.

 

So, improve psychological well-being of children with learning disabilities with mindfulness.

 

“Study outcomes suggest that mindful meditation decreases anxiety and detrimental self-focus, which, in turn, promotes social skills and academic success for students with learning disabilities” – Kristine Burgess

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch

 

Study Summary

 

Malboeuf-Hurtubise, C., Lacourse, E., Taylor, G., Joussemet, M., & Ben Amor, L. (2017). A Mindfulness-Based Intervention Pilot Feasibility Study for Elementary School Students with Severe Learning Difficulties: Effects on Internalized and Externalized Symptoms From an Emotional Regulation Perspective. Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine, 22(3), 473–481. http://doi.org/10.1177/2156587216683886

Abstract

Objective.

Students with severe learning disabilities often show signs of anxiety, depression, and problem behaviors such as inattention and conduct problems. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in school settings constitute a promising option to alleviate these co-occurring symptoms. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the impact of an MBI on symptoms and behaviors of elementary school students with severe learning disabilities.

Method.

A one-group pretest-posttest design was used. The sample comprised 14 students aged 9 to 12 years with special education needs. Both student-report and teacher-report of the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition were used.

Results.

Repeated-measures analyses of variance revealed a significant impact of the MBI on symptoms and behaviors such as anxiety, depression, inattention, aggression, and conduct problems. Effect sizes for all variables were considered large (partial η2 = .31-.61).

Conclusion.

These preliminary results indicate that MBIs can reduce the frequency of symptoms and problem behaviors often found in children with learning disabilities in elementary schools. Further multiple baseline experimental trials with a long-term follow-up are warranted to establish more robustly the effect of MBIs for children with learning disabilities.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5871167/

 

Improve Reading with Dyslexia and ADHD with Mindfulness

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness has its roots in meditation and blends numerous approaches such as yoga. Meditation enables the individual to reprocess internal experiences with more awareness, neutrality and acceptance. It focuses on the breath to develop concentration and take control of attention. This is particularly helpful for people with specific learning difficulties who often report difficulties with concentration and attention.”

 

Reading skills have always been important but in the modern world they are essential. So, difficulties with reading can be a major obstacle in school, work, and life in general. Unfortunately, difficulties with reading are all too common. It has been estimated that 20% of the children in school struggle with reading. There are a number of problems that are responsible for these struggles, but the most common ones are dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

 

Dyslexia is the most common form of language based disability. It literally means “poor language” and affects around 15% of the population. “Dyslexia is a neurological learning disability, characterized by difficulties with word recognition, by poor spelling, and limited decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede the growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.” – (International Dyslexia Association)

 

ADHD, on the other hand, also produces reading difficulties but in an entirely different way. It is a brain disorder marked by an ongoing pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development. About 6% of school aged children exhibit ADHD with about 25% of these students have other serious learning problems with oral expression, listening skills, reading comprehension, and/or math and about 50% have listening comprehension problems. Hence, ADHD appears to affect reading primarily by inattention and impulsivity.

 

Mindfulness training may be helpful with the reading problems of children with dyslexia and ADHD. It has been shown to affect many of the symptoms of these disorders, improving attention and cognitive processes, reducing impulsivity, and generally improving ADHD symptoms. So, it would be expected that mindfulness training might be helpful with the reading problems of students with dyslexia and ADHD. In today’s Research News article “Mindful Reading: Mindfulness Meditation Helps Keep Readers with Dyslexia and ADHD on the Lexical Track.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1266348443389079/?type=3&theater

or below or view the full text of the study at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4862243/

Tarrasch and colleagues recruited adult college students with either dyslexia or ADHD and measured their reading, attention, mindfulness, emotional well-being, and sleep disturbance. They were then provided with an 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program which involves meditation, body scan, and yoga practices. They were re-measured at the conclusion of MBSR training.

 

They found that following the MBSR training there was a 19% decrease in reading errors and a significant improvement in sustained attention. There was an increase in lexical reading, indicating a greater reliance after MBSR on previously learned words and a reduction in reliance on phonetic reading, sounding out words. They also found significant decreases in impulsivity, perceived-stress, rumination, depression, state-anxiety, and sleep-disturbances and an increase in mindfulness. In addition, they found that the greater the increase in mindfulness the greater the improvement in reading and the greater the decrease in impulsivity the greater the improvement in reading.

 

Hence it appears that MBSR training improves reading, emotional well-being, and sleep disturbance in students. It appears that the training improves mindfulness which improves attention and reduces impulsivity and these in turn, improve reading. These are exciting results that mindfulness training can be of assistance with dyslexia and ADHD produced reading problems in college students. This suggests that mindfulness training earlier in schools may not only help students overall, but also help students with dyslexia and ADHD in their academic progress. This is a ripe area for future research.

 

So, improve reading with dyslexia and ADHD with mindfulness.

 

“Mindfulness is a skill that allows one to be less reactionary. Its primary force is teaching self regulation. Mindfulness (meditation) is a way of paying attention, “bringing one’s complete attention to the present experience on a moment-to-moment basis”. This skill gives the person with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) tools for moment to moment self regulation of emotional, cognitive and behavior responses, essential for effective Executive Functioning.” – Ann Farris

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Tarrasch, R., Berman, Z., & Friedmann, N. (2016). Mindful Reading: Mindfulness Meditation Helps Keep Readers with Dyslexia and ADHD on the Lexical Track. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 578. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00578

 

Abstract

This study explored the effects of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) intervention on reading, attention, and psychological well-being among people with developmental dyslexia and/or attention deficits. Various types of dyslexia exist, characterized by different error types. We examined a question that has not been tested so far: which types of errors (and dyslexias) are affected by MBSR training. To do so, we tested, using an extensive battery of reading tests, whether each participant had dyslexia, and which errors types s/he makes, and then compared the rate of each error type before and after the MBSR workshop. We used a similar approach to attention disorders: we evaluated the participants’ sustained, selective, executive, and orienting of attention to assess whether they had attention-disorders, and if so, which functions were impaired. We then evaluated the effect of MBSR on each of the attention functions. Psychological measures including mindfulness, stress, reflection and rumination, life satisfaction, depression, anxiety, and sleep-disturbances were also evaluated. Nineteen Hebrew-readers completed a 2-month mindfulness workshop. The results showed that whereas reading errors of letter-migrations within and between words and vowelletter errors did not decrease following the workshop, most participants made fewer reading errors in general following the workshop, with a significant reduction of 19% from their original number of errors. This decrease mainly resulted from a decrease in errors that occur due to reading via the sublexical rather than the lexical route. It seems, therefore, that mindfulness helped reading by keeping the readers on the lexical route. This improvement in reading probably resulted from improved sustained attention: the reduction in sublexical reading was significant for the dyslexic participants who also had attention deficits, and there were significant correlations between reduced reading errors and decreases in impulsivity. Following the meditation workshop, the rate of commission errors decreased, indicating decreased impulsivity, and the variation in RTs in the CPT task decreased, indicating improved sustained attention. Significant improvements were obtained in participants’ mindfulness, perceived-stress, rumination, depression, state-anxiety, and sleep-disturbances. Correlations were also obtained between reading improvement and increased mindfulness following the workshop. Thus, whereas mindfulness training did not affect specific types of errors and did not improve dyslexia, it did affect the reading of adults with developmental dyslexia and ADHD, by helping them to stay on the straight path of the lexical route while reading. Thus, the reading improvement induced by mindfulness sheds light on the intricate relation between attention and reading. Mindfulness reduced impulsivity and improved sustained attention, and this, in turn, improved reading of adults with developmental dyslexia and ADHD, by helping them to read via the straight path of the lexical route.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4862243/