Mindfulness should be considered right in the SLP wheelhouse. It a) is evidence-based, b) promotes self-regulation which underlies executive function, academic performance, social communication and c) practicing and discussing Mindfulness encompasses expository language and metacognition (talking about thinking).
Through the mandated teletherapy period and beyond, I have found videos about mindfulness to be particularly useful as they are visual, Prompt practice, and serve for post activities.
Check out this example:
It's great. Well-paced, specific, promoting a strategy that can be used without the video at other times, and an example of an abstract, complex idea. In using this I have needed to recast my students' understanding of it: Being present helps you be in the moment to pay attention, but also regulates your emotions away from thinking/feeling about the past or future. There's much personal narrative that can come from exploring this as well as descriptions of what we notice in the moment (often a complex sentence formulation prompt as well with any cognitive verb).
In addition to other videos by the Partnership in Education, you can explore ones for various age levels from Cosmic Kids, MyLife, or Headspace.
It's a good idea to do this kind of activity with regularity (it need not take more than 10 minutes) or in a series as mindfulness is really about developing a practice. I always think of it as a toolkit (aligning with models like Zones®), so it is also wise to find videos that promote different strategies such as presence, above, deep breathing, gratitude, etc.
Interested in professional development for your department, school, or organization? Sean is booking in-person or remote trainings for the 2021-2022 school year.
This post first appeared on SpeechTechie- Technology, Apps And Lessons For SLPs And Teachers Who Like Words, please read the originial post: here
