Mission

Our mission is to help children with learning and behavioral difficulties lead happier and more productive lives. The Mindful Youth Institute researches, develops, and distributes knowledge and teaching strategies for mindfulness interventions that increase self-regulation, academic performance, and social-emotional learning (SEL).

For many years, interventions for students with learning difficulties have focused on their deficits—things that are hard for these students to do. A more effective and innovative approach to intervention is to build on the unique strengths of these children, encouraging them to develop creativity, mindfulness, compassion, and visuospatial strengths to help them remediate their challenges (Positive Education). 

We are primarily interested in how these interventions affect brain development and behavior.

Purpose

To add to current empirical research by:

Developing scientifically-validated tools and teaching strategies that help children with learning difficulties cultivate strengths, increase creativity, improve cognition, SEL, and academic performance;

Investigating how mindfulness training and SEL traits affect brain development and behavior in children with learning difficulties;

Supporting schools in achieving proficient status with state boards of education through the design and implementation of effective, proactive interventions that engage students with learning difficulties;

Collaborating with other researchers, practitioners, and educators to improve the lives of children with learning difficulties by researching and developing interventions for educational settings;

Offering in-depth, experiential courses on the development of mindfulness (and other SEL traits) to teachers, school counselors, parents, and children with learning difficulties.

Vision

We envision the creation of knowledge, innovative interventions, and technology that will help children with learning difficulties increase mindfulness, creativity, compassion, balance, and generosity for the purpose of revealing their untapped potential.