Mindfulness with OT and the special needs population

The Mindful Educators Podcast

We have a special episode this week and we are super excited about it because despite the title, it’s chock full of wisdom for all classroom teachers. We were lucky enough to sit down with Deirdre Azzopardi in our basement studio to discuss how mindfulness positively impacts the special needs population in our schools. Deirdre is an occupational therapist with over 25 years of experience working with children with special needs. She has a doctoral degree in occupational therapy and a master’s degree in psychology. Deirdre is also a registered yoga teacher for adults and children as well as a trained mindfulness instructor. Deirdre has presented extensively on the benefits of mindfulness, yoga, and self-regulation and has created several mindful movement programs that have been used with children in early childhood programs. Deirdre is not only an extraordinary OT and educator, she passionately radiates positive energy in all aspects of her life. In this episode you will hear how mindfulness impacts students of all ages but Deirdre especially shares her experience with early education students with special needs as well as the importance of buy in and the benefits of mindfulness for the classroom teachers. Deirdre’s website: https://weinsteadofme.com/ Our shares: Dave: Adult connecting through board games: Code Names Erin: The documentary: Game Changers on Netflix Deirdre: The podcast: Connecting Parenting by Jennifer Kolari