Connected Kids: Help Kids with Special Needs (and Autism) SHINE with mindful, heartfelt activities

Mindful skills can offer children and teens the ability to manage stress and support self-regulation.

Following the international success of ’Calm Kids’, author and meditation expert, Lorraine E Murray, offers an informative and creative guide that teaches a range of practical and mindful activities to help young people with SEN/Autism/ADHD or anxiety.

The book is ideal for professionals or parents/carers who have young people with additional support needs and are looking for inspiration through mindful and creative ways to help with self-regulation and relaxation.

This innovative guide will help the reader

• understand how meditation can support brain development, emotional intelligence, and improved learning
• learn how to adapt meditation styles and practices to accommodate children with SEN
• support self-soothing and regulation skills to help children reduce anxiety and stress
• learn how to use meditation and mindful practices to support creative solutions for challenging behaviours
• learn about the pilot studies illustrating real-life journeys of families and professionals using these techniques
• read about worldwide research that supports the use of meditation for health and well-being
• develop a range of simple, mindful, problem-solving methods for the whole family

Lorraine E. Murray is the founder of Connected Kids - a worldwide, certified training program that produces expert meditation teachers for children and teens in operation since 2003.

She is also the author of ’Calm Kids’ (non-fiction) and ’Robbie and Jess: for anxious children... with hidden superpowers＂ (fiction - for children with trauma/anxiety)

＂This book truly is wonderful for the general population, but Lorraine’s detailed work on challenges that people with autism face and several specific balancing mindful activities make this the best book I have read for helping kids feel their best. For children who struggle with food, she suggests practicing a gratitude meditation before eating where the caregiver and child explore the journey of the food to the plate (imagine the food growing as a plant and thanking sun, soil, and water, as well as the farmer who cared for it, etc.) Kids become less afraid of unfamiliar foods and textures as they think about the effort involved for the food from a seed in the ground to their plates - I’ve seen this work in my own home!＂

＂We have found the skills our pupils have learned through the Connected Kids approach to be a useful, possibly vital, life tool for now and in the future. In an increasingly complex and stressful world. We have made them an essential part of our curriculum by integrating short mindfulness sessions throughout the day and whenever pupils need to use them. Our pupils have severe learning difficulties, many also with autism, and yet the ideas can be adapted quite easily to each individual’s needs.＂

Sarah HB, Autism Coordinator, Catcote Academy, England

Lorraine Murray has been teaching meditation since 2003. She’s worked with all ages and abilities and specialises in working with Autism and ADHD. Her first book ’Calm Kids’ is part of the Connected Kids programme which she teaches worldwide.