CHAPTER 8: SCHOOl-BASEd MindFulnESS PROTOCOlS • 171inner Kids Program
The Inner Kids program was developed by Susan Kaiser Greenland for students in Pre-K
to 12th grade (Greenberg & Harris, 2012; Weare, 2013; Zoogman et al., 2014). Kaiser calls
mindfulness the New ABCs: Attention, Balance, and Compassion. Aligned with the Mindful
and Yogic Self as Effective Learner (MY-SEL) model (see Chapters 1, 2, and 3 of this text),
the new ABCs are taught via games, activities, instruction, and sharing to develop: (a)
awareness of inner experience (awareness of thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations);
(b) awareness of outer experience (awareness of other people, places, and things); and (c)
awareness of both together without blending the two (www.susankaisergreenland.com/
inner-kids.html). The program can be found at http://www.susankaisergreenland.com/inner-
kids.html. Greenland is author of The Mindful Child: How to Help Your Kid Manage Stress
and Become Happier, Kinder, and More Compassionate, a text for parents and professionals
that teaches techniques of mindful awareness to children and teens (Greenland, 2010). It
includes simple activities for families that help children and parents become more mindful
and develop confidence, concentration, and an ability to regulate their emotions. Many of
these techniques were described in the formal and informal chapters of this book (Chapters
6 and 7, respectively).
The Inner Kids program emphasizes paying attention to inner and outer experiences
with compassion (Greenberg & Harris, 2012; Weare, 2013; Zoogman et al., 2014). Attention,
balance, and compassion are taught through games, activities, instruction, and sharing. The
program length and frequency varies based on the age of the students. For Pre-K through
third grade, students meet twice a week for 8 weeks, in one-half hour sessions. Older stu-
dents meet once a week for 10 to 12 weeks, in 45-minute sessions. The program can be offered
during the school day, after the school day, or in a sleep-away camp. It has been taught in
one or more classrooms in Los Angeles schools every year between 2000 and 2009 (www
.susankaisergreenland.com/inner-kids.html). Each session has three sections: beginning (i.e.,
introspective period, sitting practice), middle (i.e., games and activities that address the themes
for the week [e.g., breath awareness]), and end (i.e., inspective period, lying down and friend
wishes practice for kindness and compassion). Over the 8- to 12-week course, the length of
the beginning and end sections increases (www.susankaisergreenland.com/inner-kids.html).
Training for this program consists of two weekend residential retreats in Santa Barbara,
California, with instruction from a core faculty, periodic webcasts and office hours, self-
paced online study, small group interaction online, and meditation instruction with online
practice opportunities (www.susankaisergreenland.com/inner-kids.html). Upon comple-
tion of the training program, teachers receive a diploma certifying that they completed Inner
Kids Level 1 training, which comes with peer support and training material benefits. A copy
of The Mindful Child text is included with the training program.
A school-based version of the Inner Kids program was evaluated in a randomized con-
trol study of 64 second- and third-grade children ages 7 to 9 years (Flook et al., 2010). The
program was delivered for 30 minutes, twice per week, for 8 weeks (Flook et al., 2010).
Before and following the intervention, teachers and parents completed questionnaires
assessing the children’s executive function (EF; Flook et al., 2010). Multivariate analysis
of covariance on teacher and parent reports of students’ EF indicated an interaction effect
baseline EF score and group status on posttest EF (Flook et al., 2010). That is, researchers
found that students in the group that received mindful awareness training (Inner Kids)