Effects of a Mindful Breathing Exercise During Reading Fluency Intervention for Students with Attentional Difficulties

Students with attentional difficulties are at greater risk for reading difficulties. To address this concern, we examined the extent to which adding a mindful breathing exercise to individual reading fluency interventions would improve gains in reading fluency, student-reported attention, and studen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:California school psychologist 2017-12, Vol.21 (4), p.323-334
Main Authors: Idler, Alyssa M., Mercer, Sterett H., Starosta, Lindsay, Bartfai, Jamie M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
At Risk Students
Attention Control
Attention Deficit Disorders
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Bayesian Statistics
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Child and School Psychology
Cognition & reasoning
Educational Psychology
Educational Strategies
Elementary School Students
Executive function
Grade 4
Intervention
Learning
Memory
Metacognition
Mindfulness
Outcomes of Treatment
Psychology
Reading Achievement
Reading comprehension
Reading Difficulties
Reading Fluency
Reading Instruction
Stress Variables
Students
Studies
Teaching Methods
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Summary:Students with attentional difficulties are at greater risk for reading difficulties. To address this concern, we examined the extent to which adding a mindful breathing exercise to individual reading fluency interventions would improve gains in reading fluency, student-reported attention, and student-reported stress. In a restricted alternating design, four students in grades 3–5 with teacher-reported difficulties in attention and reading participated in 12 intervention sessions that included reading fluency instructional strategies only or a mindful breathing exercise plus reading fluency instructional strategies. Based on visual and Bayesian analyses, there were no differences in within-session gains in reading fluency between conditions; however, one student had greater self-reported attention and less reported stress in intervention sessions that included the mindful breathing component. Implications of the study for future research integrating mindfulness practices in academic interventions are discussed.
ISSN:2159-2020
2161-1505
DOI:10.1007/s40688-017-0132-3