Children in Foster Care develop Resilience through Compassion CBCT - Mindfulness

Negi with HH Dalai Lama

A new study shows that a therapeutic intervention called Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT) appears to improve the mental and physical health of adolescents in foster care.

Mindfulness and CBCT

CBCT is a tool that provides strategies for people to develop more compassionate attitudes toward themselves and others.

It is well documented that children in foster care have a high prevalence of trauma in their lives.

For many, the circumstances that bring them into the foster care system are formidable; sexual abuse, parental neglect, family violence, homelessness, and exposure to drugs.

In addition, they are separated from biological family and some are regularly moved around from one place to another.

Emory researchers conducted the study in collaboration with the Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Division of Family and Child Services (DFCS).

The study was recently published online in the journals Psychoneuroendocrinology and Child and Family Studies.

Thaddeus Pace

“Children with early life adversity tend to have elevated levels of inflammation across their lifespan,” explains Thaddeus Pace, PhD, lead author on the paper in Psychoneuroendocrinology, and assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory.  

Check out his Website: The Emory Mind-Body Program

“Inflammation is known to play a fundamental role in the development of a number of chronic illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia, cancer and depression.”

The study finds that adolescents who practiced CBCT showed reductions in the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP), reduced anxiety and increased feelings of hopefulness. The more the study participants practiced, the greater the improvement observed in these measures.

Charles Raison

“The beneficial effects of CBCT on anxiety and feelings of hopelessness suggest that this intervention may provide immediate benefit to foster children,” says Charles Raison, MD, corresponding author of the study in Neuroendocrinology, now at the McClelland Institute, University of Arizona.

“We are even more encouraged by the finding that CBCT reduced levels of inflammation. Our hope is that CBCT may help contribute to the long-term health and well being of foster care children, not only during childhood, but also as they move into their adult years.”

Additionally, an article recently published in the journal Pediatrics reported that a high proportion of children in foster care programs across the United States are on psychiatric medications, many inappropriately e.g. AntiPsychotic Treatment

Linda Craighead

“In light of the increasing concern that we may be over-medicating children in state custody, our findings that CBCT can help with behavioural and physical health issues may be especially timely,” says Linda Craighead, PhD, senior author for the paper published in Child and Family Studies, and professor of psychology at Emory.

The Study

CBCT is a multi-week program developed by the Psychology dept. at Emory University by Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi, PhD, one of the study’s co-authors. Although derived from Tibetan Buddhist teachings on compassion, the CBCT program has been designed to be completely secular in nature.

Geshe Negi

The Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Division of Family and Child Services (DFCS) identified 71 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 19 as eligible for study participation.

All of the children lived in the greater metropolitan Atlanta area, and were in state custody (i.e. foster care) at the time of the study.

The participants were randomised to six weeks of Cognitvely-Based Compassion Training (CBCT), or to a wait list control group. Before and after these interventions the adolescents were assessed on various measures of anxiety and hope about the future. They also provided saliva samples for the measurement of C-reactive protein.

The researchers found that within the CBCT group, participation in practice sessions during the study correlated with reduced CRP from baseline to the six-week assessment.

The researchers are careful to emphasize that further studies will be needed to determine if there are long-term benefits with CBCT.

ADHD: The Youngest Students in a Class

The youngest children in a class are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than older children in the same class, a new study finds, and in some cases may not deserve the diagnosis.

Researchers led by Richard Morrow, a health research analyst at the Therapeutics Initiative at University of British Columbia, looked at ADHD diagnosis rates depending on whether children were born right before or after the school enrollment cutoff date.


In British Columbia, the cutoff date for kindergarten or first grade is Dec. 31, which means that kids born in December are the youngest in their class, while those born in January are the oldest.

The researchers found that children born in December were 39% more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD and 48% more likely to be receiving medication to treat it than children in the same class born in January.


In the study, which included data on 937, 943 children aged 6 to 12 over an 11-year period, Morrow and his colleagues also found that the rate of ADHD diagnoses increased steadily with each successive month from January to December.

The fact that there was such a difference in the rate of ADHD diagnoses simply based on children’s birthdates, all other things being equal, strongly suggests that less mature students may have been inappropriately being labeled with an attention deficit disorder.


“What is clear from our study is that younger children in a classroom are more likely to receive a diagnosis of ADHD and drugs to treat that ADHD,” says Morrow. “But their relative maturity should come into play.”

”Something to keep in mind when we look at behavioural problems is whether the behaviour relates to differences in age and maturity.”
Read More of this article here: ADHD: Why the Youngest Students in a Class Are Most Likely to Be Diagnosed

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7 Signs that your Pre-School Child may have Dyslexia

Mothers are Great!
Mothers are very perceptive when it comes to their children and they instinctively know when there is something wrong. Doctors, paediatricians and teachers should ignore this at their peril.

The close bond between a mother and her child is one of the understated wonders of the natural world and one that we need to pay more atention to.

Learning issues
If you, as a mother, suspect that your child is having difficulties with vocalising, or speaking, especially about letters and words, then go with those feelings and seek good qualified expert advise.

What's the worst that can happen? 1) If your fears are unfounded then that's good news and you will be more content. 2) If your child does have an issue, then you have done well to find it early and that is also good. The sooner you start helping, the better it gets.

Sharing and Empathy
Yes, you can share your concerns with your friends and their friends but unless they have the right level of expertise, then it is only helping you on a 'sharing and empathising' level.

I am not saying you should stop sharing concerns with your friends and family. Oh no, not at all. What I am saying, is it is not necessarily going to help you make progress with defining the issue or go in the right direction to help with it.

It is normally better to seek out a more qualified and objective opinion or diagnosis, before you attempt remedial action. They will be in a better position to define the issues and to help you address them.

Possible Signs of Dyslexia
Let me give you a list of the types of symptoms or behaviours that would make you believe your child had a difficulty with understanding letters and words. Your child has difficulties with the following;

• Identifying the sounds at the beginning and end of words
• Detecting or recognising when you are using rhyming sounds and words
• Identifying or rembering some letters from the alphabet
• Recognising or detecting words on signs e.g. Parking, Stop, Exit, etc.
  
• Vocalising or describing a story that you know they know e.g. something they have done or a journey they have been on.
  
• Recognising their name when you write it down
• Writing their own name

Let me know if this has helped you in any way and above all trust your own instincts as a mother but don't panic. Enjoy the support of your family and friends but seek out good advice wherever and whenever you can. Ask the school to help you and your child prepare for the future.