Daily Archives: January 19, 2016

Mind powers: Meditation matters for special education students

January 19, 2016 By in Adverse childhood experiences, Child trauma, Education, Solutions 2 Comments
Students participating in the Mindfulness Meditation program at Five Acres School in Altadena, Calif.

Students participating in the mindfulness program at Five Acres School in Altadena, CA. ____________________________________________

By Jeremy Loudenback, ChronicleforSocialChange.org

While meditation has expanded in recent years from a zen-seeker’s path to higher consciousness, to a best practice for hard-charging CEOs, it’s now gaining a foothold at a school in Southern California serving students with serious emotional and behavioral issues.

Administrators at the Five Acres School in Altadena, CA, are testing whether meditation and mindfulness can help students succeed in the classroom. A new mindfulness program implemented there in two semesters over the past year has helped pupils stay in the classroom and minimize emotional outbursts that can derail the learning process, according to administrators.

Students at Five Acres have ended up at the school because of behavioral issues that have led them to be

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Keeping trauma-informed teachers in Oakland, CA, schools

January 19, 2016 By in Adverse childhood experiences, Child trauma, Community prevention programs, Education, Neurobiology, School discipline, Solutions 2 Comments
ADorado

Dr. Joyce Dorado, director of UCSF’s HEARTS program

 

by Shane Downing at ChronicleOfSocialChange.org

Last New Year’s Day, when 13-year-old Lee Weathersby III was shot and died in Oakland, CA, nearly 200 of his middle school peers and teachers received therapy.

In the Oakland Unified School District, Sandra Simmons’ job is to help coordinate that therapy on school campuses. As a behavioral health program manager for the district, Simmons oversees crisis response across the district. She has organized behavioral health training and counseling for students, teachers, staff, and administrators for the past five years.

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