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13Dec

5 Benefits of Using Mindfulness in Your Speech Room or Classroom

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: mindfulness in speech therapy yoga for kids
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benefits of using mindfulness

Have you ever had a moment when you felt immense pressure, and needed to recall some information (maybe in a debate, in grad school for comps or the praxis, or when your supervisor asked you what your plan was), only to find that your brain emptied out, you felt panicked, and you could not focus, explain, or 

Or maybe you’ve felt that after taking a pause to regroups and find some silence, a cup of tea/coffee/diet coke, or to go outside, you felt completely recharged and able to focus on our work again. 

Perhaps you have felt unsettled, scattered, and like you couldn’t process another single piece of information, but then you got up and moved or wrote down some thoughts or took a few breaths, maybe squeezed a fidget, and felt like you were able to sink into the moment and be present again?

These moments of stress, decreased focus, and dysregulation.

All of this happens to us pretty regularly as adults, and we are learning how to manage this and reduce the overwhelm that comes with it. You have probably had a few of these happen and have tried some of the strategies – either consciously or out of habit. 

If you really take a second to look at them, they are all based out of mindfulness.

And they can help you,a s an adult, but also can help students, who are feeling some of these same pressures, lack of focus, and dysregulation. 

Going through each of these can make it really, really hard to learn – not only due to inability to focus, but the inability to retain the info and use or build critical thinking skills. And if a student is already struggling with language disorder or learning disability, this will only make it that much more difficult.

It is one of the BEST reasons to bring mindfulness into your Speech Sessions and classroom. To help give students some tools to use so they feel more prepared and ready, to the best of their abilities, in their bodies and brains. 

Mindfulness is a powerful resource, made up of many different tools, that helps the brain, in both adults and children, to turn down the stress response, turn back on the parts of the brain that help problem solve, recall, and learn, and to build new pathways that help get these strategies on board even easier. 

Here are 5 benefits of using mindfulness in your speech room or classroom:

Stress: When you think of stress, you think of it as being an adult or late teen/early adulthood issue, and not something that younger children are having to deal with. But, unfortunately, they are, too. It could be stress from the amount of school work, and issue with their peers, or the upcoming testing. When you are stressed, your brain has gone into a “survival” mode, where the parts that process information, help you recall, and store memories and learn new info, are turned down and even can shrink over time. And this can happen for kids with their developing brians, too. USing some mindfulness, such as deep breathing or movement breaks, can help to reduce the stress they face by turning down the stress response and helping those other parts of their brain to  turn on and grow. It could look like taking a few moments to breathe during the day (start or before a big activity) or taking breaks to stretch or get some wiggles out. 

Focus: It is really easy to lose focus, and kids, as I am sure you are aware, have a hard time with this too. It is not always due to an attention deficit or challenge, sometimes it is just a really tiring day. Kids can feel drained and mentally exhausted, too, especially if they are on the go ALL day or don;t have much time to take a break. Or they might be tired, hungry, or thirsty, or need to get up and move, and so they feel more foggy-headed. Mindfulness comes into place in two ways here – you can be mindful (more of a mindset) of these moments and notice them, and then be able to give a strategy. It is also the tool or strategy you can use. Do a mindful activity like deep breaths, going for a walk around the class, or pausing to check in between activities to help give the brain a reset and a break. 

Regulation: When there is a lot of information, or just life, students can feel dysregulated. This doesn;t always mean hyperactive. It can also mean low energy. Either way, they are dysregulated and might start to show “behaviors” in order to try to bring the energy up or down. They might need some kind of sensory input on the regular, or in that moment. Doing something like moving and stretching, deep breaths, squeezing, or belly breathing might be what they need to reset and regulate. (Um, I am totally not an expert in this field and am constantly learning more in this aspect. SO please, be mindful of that fact, and know it is a LOT to learn). 

Language/Communication: Mindfulness helps to turn down the stress response, even in kids, which helps your brain to function easier (as mentioned above). This means that when you are stressed or anxious, it is a LOT harder to use those parts of the brain that communicate and use language skills, such as the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (which is developing in kids). By using mindfulness, you reduce the stress response, and allow thesis parts of the brain to work at their highest, or at least higher, capacity, as best the student can. It gives them the best chance and the ability to really use these skills. 

Fun! : It might be one of the most important reasons – kids like it and it’s fun! Mindfulness, and the different activities that you can use with it, are a little different and new. It can be fun, exciting in a good way, and give them a moment to pause, reset, and to let go of learning and thinking and just be, so they can come back to the learning feeling fresh and renewed. 

What are some of the benefits you have noticed or wonder about with mindfulness? Share in the comments and let me know.

Ok, now that you are interested and ready to bring this on, want some resources to help you out? Sign up below, by entering your email, and you’ll get access to resources for yourself and that you can use to bring more mindfulness in your classroom or speech room!

With Love and Light, 

Jessi

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7Sep

5 Types of Mindfulness Activities to Use in Your Speech (Class) Room

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: mindfulness in speech therapy yoga for kids
Comments Off on 5 Types of Mindfulness Activities to Use in Your Speech (Class) Room

mindfulness activities to use in your speech room

Mindfulness is not something I ever learned about or even thought of using when I started out as an SLP in 2008. Yoga and mindfulness were things I dabbled in but they were hard to come by in my community and absolutely not talked about them where I worked, let alone used in a classroom or speech room. But things have changed, and as these have become more mainstream and the benefits of them are more well-known, they are used more often.

Last year, I started branching out and teaching some yoga for kids classes, and finding ways to use mindfulness in my speech room, and sharing strategies with others. It is what my new course “Mindfulness in your Speech Room”, launching later this September, is all about.


If you have ever thought about using these in your class, needed mindfulness activities to use in your speech room, or wondered how to incorporate them into a speech session, it is probably a lot easier (and more fun!) than you ever imagined.

Here are 5 Types of Mindfulness Activities to Use in Your Speech Room:

Games: If you like to play games in your therapy or class, to help foster receptive language skills such as following directions, with social.pragmatic groups, to build up some vocabulary, or as a simple reward/positive moment, there are several ways to bring in yoga and mindfulness. One way is to play a game like “Yogi/Simon says”, using yoga poses. Call out a pose and demo it, and see if they follow when “yogi/Simon” says. You could also try using some yoga dice and take turns creating a mini sequence. Another fun game is to have a hoberman sphere have students take a few breaths with it or name a pose then throw it to another student to do the same. It builds community, works the brain, creates play, and can be something new for the students.

Breathing Breaks: If you need something to help students find their focus or to regain self-control or calm, breathing breaks can be helpful. You can use tactile cues, like a hand on their chest/belly, toy on their belly, a hoberman sphere, or color-changing apps. It can be a pause that helps students to regroup, much like it does for adults.

Yoga Poses/Names: If you are working on articulation or language skills, using yoga pose names can be a fun way to practice sounds and build sentences. Write down a few on a board to choose from, grab some yoga cards, or give the students a new pose to try doing and name.

Check-In: Having a mindful moment when you first step into the class can be a great way to check-in with students and help them get settled for the session. It could be breathing, choosing the “color” they feel emotionally, or shaking it out on a wiggly day.

Books: If you love to incorporate books into your speech therapy sessions, there are a TON of yoga and mindfulness books that you could use, and then create activities, movement, vocabulary, articulation, etc from. You can search on google, head to the library, or reach out to me for some suggestions. Personally, I like the “I am” series by Susan Verde.

There are so many ways that you can infuse yoga speech sessions with mindfulness, either a little bit here and there or with the activity itself. They can help students to find a new way of learning, a new way of having fun, or to get settled and prepared for the session, shifting their brain for speech time.

Which one do you think you are going to try? Share in the comments and let me know! Or DM me on IG at jessiandricks.

Want to bring some mindfulness to your classroom? If you are looking for some fun and out of the box ways to connect, that can help you to feel truly authentic and supportive of your students, make sure to sign up for the waitlist for my newest course “Mindfulness in Your (Speech) Room”. It is a course for SLPs and educators that will share who you can bring mindfulness and yoga into your classroom, as little or as much as you’d like, and how it can change everything – for the better. You can sign up for the waitlist here (and snag an exclusive discount when doors open later in September).

With Love and Light,
Jessi

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