The Concept of Mindfulness and Its Application to Work with Children

The thesis summarizes current findings about mindfulness and presents specifics of and the prospects for work with children and adolescents in that context. It addresses certain programs based on mindfulness used in clinical practice as well as in a school setting, along with a brief evaluation of studies that monitor the impact of these programs on various aspects of child mental health. The empirical part of the study describes quantitative research into the extent of mindfulness in children by way of the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM-17) and a comparison group of children with ADHD and intact sample. On the basis of the Mann-Whitney U Test, it was found that the extent of mindfulness in ADHD children does not differ significantly from the intact sample. Statistically, older children scored significantly higher than younger children in ADHD sample as well as in the learning disabilities group and in comparison of older and younger boys. The last part presents a program proposal for cultivating mindfulness in children with ADHD. Keywords: ADHD, children, Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure, Mindfulness, mindfulness- based interventions, school, mindfulness researc