Feasibility of a school-based mindfulness program for improving inhibitory skills in children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

BackgroundExecutive dysfunction is prevalent in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including prominent difficulties in the two facets of inhibition, as well as with selective attention. School-based mindfulness has been used in typically-developing children to improve executive functioning, though this has not been investigated in children with ASD. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of a school-based mindfulness program for improving inhibition (prepotent response inhibition and interference control) and selective attention in children with ASD. MethodUsing a quasi-experimental, pre-post design, an eight week school-based mindfulness program (Mindful Schools;https://www.mindfulschools.org/), was administered to students with ASD (n = 27) at a private, not-for-profit school for children with special needs. The Walk/Don’t Walk test and the Color-Word Interference test were used to evaluate prepotent response inhibition and interference control, respectively. Selective attention was measured using a cancellation test. ResultsSignificant improvements followed the intervention for prepotent response inhibition and interference control (medium effect sizes), as well as for overall selective attention (large effect size). ConclusionsThe study’s findings demonstrate that school-based mindfulness holds promise for increasing specific executive functioning abilities in children with ASD.