Palm Springs Middle School, Dade County, Florida
In the following example, the Institute of HeartMath cooperated with Palm Springs Middle School, the Spanish and English PTAs, and the Miami Heart Research Institute to help create a successful ongoing program that benefited the students, teachers and parents alike.
Palm Springs Middle School, Dade County, Florida, has been using the HeartSmarts® training program for 7 years with groups of middle school students, elementary students, and parents. Initially, 35 gifted students, 10 at risk, and 20 ESL students (English as a Second Language) participated in a 16-hour training. Many of these students took the Achievement Inventory Measurement (AIM) to measure pre and post results. Dramatic gains in areas like locus of control, peer empathy, work motivation, parent compliance, and a decrease in the influence of at risk behaviors led to a cross-age HeartMath mentoring program with 17 middle school students tutoring 55 second and third graders at nearby DuPois Elementary School. A 6-month follow-up assessment was given to the 17 middle school mentors in May, 1997, to determine more long term improvements and again the results were very encouraging with gains in all 19 scales of the AIM assessment.
The third phase began in the fall of 1997 with 62 middle school students enrolled in two full year elective courses (called HeartSmarts). In the Spring of 1998, these 62 students began "cross age mentoring" to approximately 150 elementary students from 3 nearby "feeder" schools. Parents were required to participate in the training process as well. A controlled research study was carried out by the Miami Heart Research Institute to determine adolescent resiliency in the face of stress. Results have been published in Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science. The HeartSmarts program now extends to 4 full time elective classes.
Los Angeles County Office of Education, Migrant Education Division
In another project for pre-school age children and their families, a program was offered through the Los Angeles County Office of Education, Migrant Education Division. Now in its eighth year and integrated as part of the Even Start program, the program has been recognized as a vital component in helping migrant families better integrate into American culture and cope with a multitude of emotional challenges like violence, poverty, fear and isolation. Over 2500 parents, teens, and children have been trained in HeartMath tools by a staff counselor and 20 parent mentors. This includes participants in the Corazon Contento program which has been rolled out to 20 pre-school sites for dual parent/child training.
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