A systematic review of mindfulness intervention for individuals with developmental disabilities: long-term practice and long lasting effects.

Hwang et al. (2013) looked at every paper they could find on mindfulness for people with developmental disabilities. They found 12 studies that tested things like meditation, breathing, or body scans.

The team asked: do these practices cut problem behavior and last after the sessions end? They pulled the studies apart to see who was taught, how long training ran, and whether gains stuck.

Across the 12 papers, mindfulness lessons lowered aggression, self-injury, and anxiety. Most studies showed the gains were still there weeks or months later.

The catch: the studies were small, used different methods, and rarely had control groups. So the authors say the signal is hopeful but not rock-solid.

Li et al. (2023) now overshadows this review. Their meta-analysis pools 25 RCTs of mindfulness or CBT for parents of kids with DD. It finds medium-to-large drops in parent stress and depression. Because Li includes the same 12 child studies plus newer parent trials, it supersedes the 2013 paper. If you want effect sizes, go to Li.

Singh et al. (2018) extends the idea to caregivers. They pitted standard PBS against PBS plus mindfulness coaching. The mindfulness group beat PBS on every score: less client aggression, less staff stress, and lower cost. This tells us mindfulness may work best when woven into behavior plans, not offered alone.

Chan et al. (2025) and Fradet et al. (2025) stretch the work to new groups. Shing shows a brief mindfulness course cuts stigma stress in parents of autistic kids. L shows telehealth mindfulness halves teen depression. Both keep the positive trend but move the setting online and the target to parents or adolescents.

You do not need to choose between ABA and mindfulness. The newer data say add short mindfulness modules for clients, parents, or staff and keep your behavior plan. Try a two-minute breathing routine before sessions, teach a caregiver to notice thoughts without reacting, or run a telehealth group for teens. Start small, track behavior, and let the growing evidence do the heavy lifting.