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

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Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported, in part, by scholarships from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to the first and fourth authors and a research grant by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to the second author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sooke School District, Langford, BC, Canada

    Alyssa M. Idler

  2. Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education, University of British Columbia, 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Sterett H. Mercer & Lindsay Starosta

  3. Greater Victoria School District, Victoria, BC, Canada

    Jamie M. Bartfai

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  1. Alyssa M. Idler
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  2. Sterett H. Mercer
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  3. Lindsay Starosta
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  4. Jamie M. Bartfai
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Correspondence to Sterett H. Mercer.

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Conflict of Interest

Authors Idler, Mercer, Starosta, and Bartfai declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Funding

This research was supported, in part, by scholarships from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to the first and fourth authors and an Insight Development research grant by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to the second author.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Appendix

Appendix

The following is the script for the mindful breathing exercise used in this study. The script was adapted based on the Core Practice of the MindUP Curriculum (Hawn Foundation 2011).

  1. 1.

    Invite the student to sit comfortably with their back against the chair, feet flat on the ground, and hands held loosely in their lap.

  2. 2.

    Invite the student to take several breaths, breathing in through their nose and out through their mouth:

  • “Let’s take some deep breaths. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. In 1, 2, 3, out 1, 2, 3. In 1, 2, 3, out 1, 2, 3. When you breathe in, take the breath all the way down to your tummy. In 1, 2, 3, out 1, 2, 3.”

  1. 3.

    Ask the student to close their eyes and listen to the sound of the ringing instrument for as long as they can while paying attention to their breath:

    • “You will listen to the sound of this chime for as long as you can, while paying attention and focusing on the rise and fall of your breath.”

  2. 4.

    Ring chime for the first time.

  3. 5.

    Remind the student that if their mind wanders, it is alright. They just need to bring their attention back to their breath:

    • “It’s alright if your mind begins to wander. Just bring your focus back to your breathing. Feel the rise and fall of your breath in your tummy.”

  4. 6.

    Tell student before ringing the chime a second time that they are to listen to the sound as long as they can, focusing on their breath and to raise their hand when they cannot hear it anymore:

    • “I am going to ring the chime again. Listen to the sound for as long as you can. When you can’t hear the sound any more, you can raise your hand.”

  5. 7.

    Ring chime for the second time.

  6. 8.

    Once student has raised their hand, invite the student to focus again on their breathing:

  • “Now slowly move your hand to your chest or tummy and feel your breathing. Just breathing in…just breathing out…”

  1. 9.

    Wait another 30–45 s.

  2. 10.

    Proceed with the reading fluency intervention procedures.

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Idler, A.M., Mercer, S.H., Starosta, L. et al. Effects of a Mindful Breathing Exercise During Reading Fluency Intervention for Students with Attentional Difficulties. Contemp School Psychol 21, 323–334 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-017-0132-3

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