with Robert Black
Are the minds of atypical learners different than the minds of neurotypical learners where mindfulness practice is concerned?
This question will be explored through reflecting on how a mindfulness initiative evolved over a ten-year period—from a conversation about research pointing to the potential difference mindfulness could make with kids diagnosed with ADHD to a full-fledged program that now touches 200-plus diversely learning-disabled students annually; the faculty and staff that serve them; and increasing numbers of their parents.
Attendees will experience specific techniques used with fifth through twelfth graders in a private school in New York City. They will examine some of the innovative ways that challenges related to attention, processing, trust, and resistance were met, along with the discovery of how teaching mindfulness to this population is itself a profound practice.
Short guided meditations and individual and small-group inquiries will inform an interactive and experiential session wherein participants will come away with the understanding of how they can generate a mindfulness program that supports atypical learners.