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Movement Based Awareness Training (MBAT)©

There is ample evidence, both anecdotal and in clinical trials to substantiate the multifaceted benefits of mindful awareness practice in pediatric and adult populations with clinical diagnoses of attention deficit disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders. A promising alternative approach is indicated by a growing body of research showing that Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an effective treatment tool in the domains of stress reduction, increasing directed attention and capacity for emotional regulation.

Indeed, a recent UCLA study found that an 8-week Mindful Awareness Program was effective in ameliorating ADHD symptoms, improving performance on tasks of attention and cognitive inhibition, and importantly, reducing anxiety and depressive symptoms in this population.

With the continued increase of diagnosed ADD and ADHD cases in school age children, the MBAT© program is designed to serve as an adjunct therapy/activity to normal behavioral and pharmaceutical treatments in clinically diagnosed pediatric populations, but can also serve as a tool for increasing attentiveness and positive behavior in normal children.

Our assertion is that a substantial segment of school age children, particularly those diagnosed with attention deficit disorders who may derive benefits from MBSR training will be positively impacted by a movement based awareness training program (MBAT)© since they seem to demonstrate a natural affinity toward movement/exercise based protocol rather than static mindfulness training.

The MBAT© program has 3 primary components:

1. Attention Training
   1. The protocol is designed to integrate facets of attention training with physical movement through a series of selected martial arts techniques. Response in the attention training games is initiated through the use of 3 sensory stimuli. The stimuli are coded to elicit responses in the games, with degrees of difficulty increasing as participants improve and advance.
   2. The curriculum is designed to increase processing speed, working memory and facilitate increased acuity in set shifting. The stimulus for each appointed task enhances executive function training through the use of phonological, visual, and spatial information delivered to the recipient via a series of coded instructions which elicits a predetermined physical response.
   3. Cognitive flexibility theory (CFT) proposes that individuals learn and grasp the nature of complex information more readily by being presented with multiple representations of the same information in varying contexts, e.g. the visual and auditory presentation of the information to be learned, such as seeing written text and hearing it. By observing multiple representations of the identical phenomenon the individual develops the neural pathways necessary for considering novel applications within the domain of available knowledge. Thus by using alternating game stimuli and behavioral training children learn to approach problem solving from multiple perspectives.

The protocol is designed to promote emotional and physical self-regulation by providing a series of fun games that improve focus and attention while allowing kids to move.