Many of our adult clients struggle with the ability to control their thoughts and impulses. These weak self-regulation skills can damage relationships, decrease success at work, and lead to addictive behaviors.
What if we could have intervened early on in their lives, even as early as grade school? What kind of changes would that have made in our client’s futures?
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison recently ran a study to determine the impact of a mindfulness-based Kindness Curriculum (KC) on executive function, self-regulation, and prosocial behavior in preschool students.
Researchers randomly assigned children to one of two conditions: either a wait-list control group (n = 38) or a Kindness Curriculum group (n = 30).
Students took a baseline test before the intervention which researchers used to measure the amount of change each student made over the course of the experiment.
Twice a week, students in the KC group received instruction from a trained mindfulness teacher. Lessons included literature, music, and movement that focused on fostering attention, emotion regulation, and kindness skills.
In the post-test, the KC group showed improved delay of gratification (measured by Prencipe and Zelazo’s 2005 procedure) and cognitive flexibility (measured by a dimensional change card sort task from the National Institute of Health).
The control group, on the other hand, showed more selfishness (sharing fewer resources with others) than their mindful peers.
Researchers also found that KC students with low levels of social competence and executive function on the initial test showed the greatest personal gains- in either the KC group or the control group- by the end of the intervention.
These gains by the KC group suggest that mindfulness may boost important skills early on, especially for children who begin behind their peers.
Approximately three months after the mindfulness-based training concluded, the KC students earned higher grades on their report cards than the students in the wait-list group. This is a hopeful sign of lasting impact.
It’s exciting to imagine the future impact of these results, but it’s key to remember that this is a limited study with a small sample size of only 68 students.
Also, the study would have been stronger if they’d tested the mindfulness intervention against an active control group. As is, it’s unclear whether the students in the KC group made gains because of the curriculum itself or because of other factors, like the increased attention or exciting novelty of being in a special program.
Could they have made the same type of gains in any special program?
With further research, we’d be better able to control for these limitations and gather more conclusive results. Also, I’d like to see someone do a longitudinal study over the span of years to see if the results “stick.”
The study in its entirety can be found in Developmental Psychology, volume 51, pp. 44-51.
Now, I’d like to hear from you. In your experience, what has been the impact of integrating mindfulness into your work?
Please leave a comment below.
I’ve included mindfulness and thankfulness the past two years while teaching nature school. It’s amazing seeing the results.
This an absolutely great article as a reflection about mindfulness and self-regulation. I have found that I have become more and more at peace with myself when I take the time and reflect mindfully about what I want to eat. Mindful eating has become one of my goal because of my gut and digestive health. I believe that it is important to teach early about the food that you consume, the nutrients that you need for your body and learning to swap the unhealthy food to another that is healthier, like tea and coffee, or candy and fruits. That takes away all the compulsive choices by giving more into the food and consumption, and preparation. But I know that sometimes it isn’t in our control, and inability to do it for ourselves, like spending on the food, or more important than food is finding a job, a housing than planning and thinking over a simple meal. I am very interested in subjects about eating disorder among teens when speaking about mindfulness and how it can be used to help our clients improve their quality of life and environment.
Adopting mindfulness is the most profound thing I have ever done, it beats becoming a father and a sporting champion, I am the happiest I have ever been in my life because of it. I now practice it naturally every day.
Introducing Mindful for Kids. Especially todays kids with ipads and iphones at younger and younger ages.
Just two minutes and super helpful right before sleep:
I use the timer apparatus on their ipad, and set two minutes and they choose the bell tone they want.
Everyone is happy!
Then we breathe for two minutes, while they are in bed, and ready to go to sleep:
Through the two minutes I remind : Breathing deeply, breathing away any thoughts.
They are relaxed and ready for sleep in just the two minutes. It works, even with the most restless child.
Reduce Sugar intake from 5pm onwards and set a normal/regular sleep time for them, generally about 8-8:30 for school aged kids, if you don’t you will have challenging times in the morning. Kids need 10-12 hours of sleep per day, they are still growing, the body, the brain and everything they are involved in daily, is Growth Oriented.
Introducing them to Mindful patterns at this age is such a powerful tool for them going forward.
Meditation easily can follow as they get a little older. They will already understand it’s benefits.
oh, and perhaps one of the most important parts, is this deep breathing, relaxation just before bed triggers the feel good chemistry from the brain = good dreams and deep sleep!
We have been incorporating a mindfulness practice at our preschool for the last 2 years. We work with children 2-6 years old. The benefits for the students, teachers and parents are hard to put into words. The children ask to do activities over and over again – like mindful eating, a short meditation or a mindful minute. Parents have commented that children are using the practices at home – like taking a breath when upset, asking parents to join them in a mindful minute. The overall feel at our school is one of presence, awareness and accepting of emotions and learning how to be with the emotions and then letting them go. I have found wonderful literature that speaks to us all – Mindful Monkey, Happy Panda – Visiting your Feelings, Puppy Mind – Lemonade Hurricane and much more. We sign a song from a Basket Full of Plums – Thich Nat Hanh – In Out Deep Slow – all about breathing.
We have shifted our curriculum to be more focused on Mindfulness, Kindness, Prayer (faith based preschool) and being in nature. It has been a wonderful transformation and parents are loving what we are focusing on.
Girl, I have to say I like the idea of starting early….everything’s right with that.
Interesting study – can I make a plea to professionals reading this post that they take their client’s faith into account. We are a Christian based community organisation. I work with people of any faith or none, but when faith in God is a part of who they are and how they view their world, external and internal, that can have a big part to play in their recovery from trauma, abuse, co-dependency, etc.
Wow! Great research, can’t wait to see where this leads.
I like mindfulness cause I like CBT and done RET.
Thanks Ruth – great project – I am the founder of the Mindful Futures Network in Australia – we have over 400 members and share information through a web and Facebook page – the focus of the Network is on Mindfulness Empathy and Compassion being applied at a systems level – so in hospitals, universities, companies, gov’t dept’s etc. I’ll share your project through this network. cheers Lynne
Excellent article! I totally agree and so do my students!
Lynne Zendel, Toronto ,Canada
(Psychoeducational consultant and counsellor)
Thank you Ruth , for the insightful and stimulating research and discussions .
I have had the opportunity ,in a Roots of Empathy Programme , in school classrooms , to facilitate mindfulness, in social- emotional learning areas . The results of the Programme have been :increases in prosocial behaviors and reduction in bullying behaviors . A mother and baby visiting throughout the year where children view attunement and caring behaviors ,along with books discussions and related activities , have produced data and personal anectodal evidence of positive social -emotional attending experiences .
Thank you Ruth & Ursula. Perhaps something like a Head Start curriculum could be used as a control? I’m not versed in the details, i.e., was there a mindfulness/kindness component, but know it made a big difference.
I have recently begun to practice a very simple mindfulness throughtout my working day as a psychotherapist that is to spend a short time concentrating on (1) sounds around me, then (2) my thoughts and (3) whats going on in my body. This has brought a different sense of calmness to my therapy room and therefore to all within.
I requested that each counseling session I attend begin with a few minutes of silence, to allow each of us to ‘settle in’ and consider what is foremost to discuss. This eliminates the amount of time needed to move to the topic/concerns most salient for me.
There is a Headstart training center a few blocks from me. I can learn how they help children to approach healthful regulation of their emotions. I know Headstart requires parental involvement and adult education participation. The former directior told me that over 30% of the mothers were experiencing depression – and the lack of mental health resources was impacting the readiness of their children for school.
I am curious to learn what form of mindfulness, if any, our neighborhood elementary school uses. Improved performance on testing is paramount in public education.