904-834-7581

Wellness & Resources

Supporting The Whole Child

At The Mandala School, we believe that wellness is not separate from learning — it is learning. When students feel safe, regulated, and supported in their bodies and emotions, they are better able to connect, communicate, and grow.

This page brings together the programs, strategies, and resources that shape our approach to whole-child wellness — from the movement and creative arts experiences we offer every day, to the tools and guidance we share with families at home. Whether you are new to our community or looking to deepen your understanding of the supports available to your child, we hope this page serves as a helpful starting point.

SCHEDULE A CAMPUS TOUR
Students engage in movement, creativity, and hands-on learning activities that support whole-child wellness and development.

Our Resources

Yoga

Our Yoga program supports students in developing body awareness, self-regulation, balance, flexibility, and mindfulness. Through gentle movement, breathing exercises, and calming strategies, students learn tools they can use throughout the school day to support focus, emotional regulation, and overall well-being.

Art

Art gives our students the opportunity to express themselves creatively while building fine motor skills, confidence, and imagination. Through hands-on projects and a variety of materials, students explore colors, textures, shapes, and creative problem-solving in a fun and supportive environment.

Physical Education

Our Physical Education program encourages movement, teamwork, coordination, and healthy habits. Students participate in developmentally appropriate activities that build strength, motor planning, sportsmanship, and confidence while making physical activity fun and accessible for all learners.

Music

Music provides students with opportunities to explore rhythm, sound, movement, and creative expression. Through songs, instruments, listening activities, and interactive experiences, students strengthen communication, attention, memory, and social engagement in a joyful group setting.

Forrest School

Forrest School brings learning outdoors through hands-on exploration, nature-based activities, and project-based experiences. Led by a teacher certified in nature-based education and Reggio trained and certified, students connect with the natural world while building curiosity, independence, sensory awareness, problem-solving skills, and social connection in an engaging outdoor environment.

Horticulture

Our Horticulture program gives students meaningful opportunities to plant, grow, care for, and harvest in our school garden. In collaboration with The Man in Overalls team, students engage in hands-on garden-based learning that builds responsibility, patience, sensory awareness, functional life skills, and a deeper connection to healthy foods, nature, and the community.

Regulation & Coping Skills Toolkit

Our Regulation and Coping Skills support helps students with Autism build meaningful tools for understanding their emotions, calming their bodies, and navigating daily challenges. Through visual supports, sensory strategies, breathing exercises, movement breaks, social stories, and guided practice, students learn how to recognize when they need support and choose coping strategies that help them feel safe, calm, and ready to learn.

Regulation & Coping Skills Resources May Include:

  • Visual emotion charts
  • Calm-down choice boards
  • Breathing exercises
  • Sensory breaks
  • Movement activities
  • Social stories
  • First/Then visuals
  • Zones of Regulation-style language
  • Coping skills cards
  • Quiet/calming spaces
  • Fidgets or sensory tools
  • Mindfulness and grounding activities

At The Mandala School, we recognize that each student has unique sensory needs and may require individualized support to feel calm, safe, and ready to learn. Our team uses proactive calming strategies, sensory tools, movement breaks, visual supports, quiet spaces, and co-regulation to help students navigate the school day successfully. By supporting sensory regulation in the classroom, students are better able to participate, communicate, build independence, and access meaningful learning experiences.

Resources May Include

  • Calm-down areas or quiet spaces
  • Visual schedules and transition supports
  • Breathing exercises and mindfulness tools
  • Movement breaks and heavy-work activities
  • Fidgets or sensory tools
  • Noise-reducing headphones
  • Weighted lap pads or comfort items, when appropriate
  • Flexible seating options
  • Sensory bins or tactile materials
  • First/Then boards and choice boards
  • Social stories for transitions or overwhelming situations
  • Co-regulation support from trusted adults

Recommended at home routines

Recommended At-Home Routines

At-home routines can help children feel more secure, prepared, and independent by creating predictability throughout the day. Simple routines for mornings, after school, homework, meals, bedtime, and transitions can reduce stress and support emotional regulation. Visual schedules, timers, first/then language, calm-down choices, and consistent expectations help children better understand what is happening, what comes next, and how to move through daily tasks with confidence.

At-Home Routine Ideas May Include

  • Morning routine visual checklist
  • After-school decompression time
  • Homework or reading routine
  • Snack and mealtime routines
  • Bath, pajamas, and bedtime sequence
  • Screen-time expectations
  • First/Then boards
  • Visual timers
  • Calm-down corner or quiet space
  • Choice boards for breaks or coping tools
  • Consistent sleep and wake times
  • Practice with transitions before changes happen

Helpful Parent Resources

  • Autism Speaks: Visual Supports and Autism: A helpful parent toolkit explaining how visual schedules, pictures, and written supports can make routines more predictable and easier to follow. (Autism Speaks)
  • National Autistic Society: Preference for Order, Predictability, and Routine Explains how routines can help autistic children reduce anxiety, self-regulate, cope with change, and manage daily expectations. (National Autistic Society)
  • Autism Grown Up: Create a visual schedule for you or a person you are supporting. Create your own custom visual schedules at home with a variety of cut and paste options. Digital Download. (Editable Digital Download)

Movement & physical wellness

Movement and physical wellness are important for children with Autism because they support the whole child, body, brain, and nervous system. Regular movement can help improve coordination, balance, motor planning, strength, and body awareness, while also supporting emotional regulation, attention, sleep, and overall health. Physical activities such as yoga, P.E., outdoor play, stretching, and structured movement breaks give students meaningful opportunities to build confidence, reduce stress, practice social skills, and feel more connected and regulated throughout the day.

Helpful Parent Resources

  • Autism Speaks – Autism and Exercise: Special Benefits
    Explains how physical activity can support motor skills, fitness, social functioning, strength, and endurance for children with autism. (Autism Speaks)
  • American College of Sports Medicine- Exercise for Autism: A helpful article explaining how regular exercise can improve motor skills, behavior, social skills, and physical performance in autistic individuals. (ACSM)
  • CDC- Making Physical Activity Part of a Child’s Life: Provides general guidance for helping children build physical activity into daily routines in realistic, family-friendly ways. (CDC)
 

Why movement matters

At The Mandala School, movement is an important part of supporting the whole child, body, brain, and nervous system. For many students with Autism and related learning differences, movement helps build body awareness, coordination, strength, motor planning, focus, confidence, and emotional regulation. We believe movement should be meaningful, accessible, and fun, which is why we incorporate opportunities for physical wellness throughout the school day. Our Yoga and P.E. programs are led by certified instructors who create safe, supportive, and developmentally appropriate experiences that help students connect with their bodies, practice self-regulation, and build lifelong healthy habits.

Simple Movement Menu for Home Exercise

Movement at home does not have to be complicated. Short, simple activities can help children release energy, build strength, improve coordination, and support regulation. Families can choose a few activities from the menu below for a quick movement break, after-school reset, or part of a daily routine.

Movement Ideas

Calming Movement

  • Wall pushes
  • Slow stretching
  • Yoga poses
  • Deep breathing with arm reaches
  • Animal walks at a slow pace
  • Rocking in a chair or on a therapy ball

Energy-Release Movement

  • Jumping jacks
  • Dance party
  • Running in place
  • Bear crawls
  • Frog jumps
  • Obstacle course
  • Balloon volleyball

Strength & Body Awareness

  • Chair squats
  • Plank hold
  • Crab walks
  • Wheelbarrow walks
  • Carrying laundry or groceries
  • Pushing a laundry basket
  • Climbing playground equipment

Coordination & Balance

  • Balance on one foot
  • Walk on a line of tape
  • Hopscotch
  • Toss and catch
  • Simon Says
  • Follow the leader
  • Freeze dance

Easy Routine Example

Choose 3–5 activities and do each one for 30 seconds to 2 minutes.

Example: Wall pushes → frog jumps → yoga stretch → toss and catch → deep breaths

This gives children a simple way to move their bodies, reset their nervous system, and return to daily routines feeling more calm, focused, and ready.

 

Special Olympics Florida National Banner School Recognition

The Mandala School is incredibly proud to be recognized as a Special Olympics Florida National Banner School. This recognition reflects our deep commitment to inclusion, belonging, movement, leadership, and whole-school participation. Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools are recognized for creating inclusive school communities built on collaboration, engagement, and respect for all students and staff. National Banner recognition is awarded to schools that meet 10 standards of excellence, including inclusive sports, youth leadership, whole-school engagement, and long-term sustainability.

This recognition is especially meaningful to our program because movement and athletics are not just enrichment opportunities at Mandala, they are part of how we build confidence, connection, self-advocacy, teamwork, and joy. Through our partnership with Special Olympics Florida, our students have opportunities to participate, be celebrated, and experience the pride of being part of something bigger than themselves. We are honored to be part of a statewide movement that supports athletes with intellectual disabilities through year-round sports training and competition, helping create communities where individuals are treated with respect, dignity, and opportunity.

Sick Policy

The Mandala School requires that any children with the following symptoms remain at home until they are symptom free or on antibiotics for 24 hours:

  • A fever of 100.4° or greater
  • Colored discharge from their nose, eyes, or mouth with an accompanying symptom
  • Unexplained rash
  • Chest congestion that impedes the natural flow of air
  • Vomiting or diarrhea

Please be considerate of the health of other students, families, and staff and understand that we cannot accept sick children.

In addition, two occurrences of vomiting or diarrhea warrant removal of the child from school until symptoms have ceased for 24 hours. A communication with this reminder will be sent home specifying what is needed for the child to return to school.

A student must be kept home if he/she has a communicable disease, has had a fever or has excessive vomiting within the previous 24 hours. Please do not send your child to school if he/ she is ill (ie., fever, unexplained rash, lethargy or a cough which makes it difficult for the child to breathe).

When a child becomes ill at school, he/she will be pulled from class to rest in a quiet area and parents will be contacted. A child may not remain at school if he/she is sick. The school reserves the right to request any child to be sent home if he/she is listless or unhappy because of poor health.

If parents refuse to pick their child up from school when illness has been determined, staff may call the Department of Children and Families to file a report of abandonment/neglect.

Nutrition, Hydration, and Sleep Supports

Nutrition, Hydration, and Sleep

At The Mandala School, we understand that nutrition, hydration, and sleep can play an important role in a child’s overall regulation, energy, focus, mood, and readiness to learn. Every child and family is different, and our goal is to support healthy habits in a practical, nonjudgmental way. Simple routines such as eating regular meals and snacks, drinking water throughout the day, and getting consistent rest can help students feel more comfortable, regulated, and available for learning.

We encourage families to consider small, realistic supports such as packing preferred healthy foods, offering water regularly, creating predictable bedtime routines, and communicating with the school team about any feeding, hydration, or sleep-related concerns that may impact the school day. When home and school work together, we can better understand each student’s needs and support their success with compassion and consistency.

Helpful Parent Resources

  • Sleep-Autism Speaks: Strategies to Improve Sleep in Children with Autism: A parent-friendly toolkit with research-informed strategies for bedtime routines, sleep environment, and common sleep challenges for autistic children. (Autism Speaks)
  • Marcus Autism Center- Eating Habits: When to Worry: This is a strong resource that explains selective eating, food preferences, feeding concerns, and practical ways families can support nutrition and mealtime routines. It also notes that feeding concerns are common for children with autism and can sometimes go beyond typical picky eating. (marcus.org)
  • Hydration-ADDitude: Hydration Tips for Children with ADHD and Autism: A practical parent resource with simple tips for encouraging hydration and building water intake into daily routines. (ADDitude)

Crisis Prevention and De-Escalation: What We Do

At The Mandala School, student safety, dignity, and emotional well-being are always at the center of our crisis prevention and de-escalation approach. Our team is CPI trained and certified, which supports staff in using person-centered prevention, verbal and nonverbal de-escalation strategies, and safe crisis response practices when students are experiencing distress. CPI emphasizes prevention, de-escalation, reducing challenging behavior, and helping prevent future incidents through trained, supportive staff responses. (Crisis Prevention Institute)

Our approach begins with proactive supports first. We focus on understanding each student’s needs, recognizing early signs of escalation, using calming strategies, offering choices, reducing demands when appropriate, and supporting students before a situation becomes unsafe. When additional support is needed, our staff use a dignity-centered, least intrusive, and safety-focused approach to help students regain regulation while protecting the safety of the student, peers, and staff.

Families can expect clear communication, compassionate follow-up, and careful documentation when significant incidents occur. Our team documents incidents, communicates with families, collaborates with the behavior team, and reviews behavior plans as needed to ensure supports remain individualized and effective. The goal is never punishment- the goal is prevention, safety, learning, and helping each student build the skills they need to be successful.

Community Resources Directory (Jacksonville/NE Florida)

Our Community Partners

Mandala Wellness: Mandala Wellness is a family-focused health and wellness practice in Northeast Florida offering holistic, interdisciplinary support through mental health therapy, ABA, speech therapy, occupational therapy, psychological evaluations, family programming, and wellness services.

The Man in Overalls: Overalls helps families, schools, and communities in Northeast Florida grow their own groceries through food garden design, raised-bed installation, planting, irrigation, maintenance, education, and seasonal support.

Riccio Fitness: RiccioFit is a full-service health and fitness coaching platform offering in-person and virtual training, strength and movement support, yoga, and wellness coaching to help individuals build strength, reduce stress, and improve daily function.

Sprouts: The Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation supports school and community garden programs that bring hands-on nutrition education, healthy habits, and whole-child wellness to children, families, and communities.

Music Heals of Florida: Music Heals of Florida provides evidence-based music therapy and group music classes designed to support social skills, motor skills, focus, emotional regulation, anxiety management, and executive functioning for individuals with learning and developmental differences.

Autism & Disability Supports

UF Health Jacksonville- Center for Autism and Related Disabilities, CARD: CARD provides free support and assistance for individuals with autism and related disabilities, their families, and the professionals who support them. Services may include family support, consultation, training, and community awareness.

Step Up For Students- Family Empowerment Scholarship for Unique Abilities: The Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities helps eligible Florida families personalize education supports. Funds may be used for approved expenses such as private school tuition, therapies, tutoring, curriculum, and other educational supports.

The Arc Jacksonville- Family Resources / A.S.K. Department: The Arc Jacksonville supports individuals with intellectual and developmental differences and their families. Their Advocacy, Support, and Knowledge department helps families access information, training, resources, and support across the lifespan.

Disability Rights Florida: Disability Rights Florida is Florida’s protection and advocacy organization for people with disabilities. They provide education, advocacy, investigation, and legal-related support to protect the rights, dignity, and opportunities of individuals with disabilities.

Family Network on Disabilities: Family Network on Disabilities offers resources, support, parent education, and training for families of children with disabilities across Florida. They have served as a Parent Training and Information Center for more than 35 years.

Florida Agency for Persons with Disabilities, APD: APD supports individuals with disabilities and their families in living, learning, and working within their communities. Families may use this site to learn more about Florida disability services and supports.

Crisis Resources

For immediate danger or life-threatening emergencies, call 911.

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 for free, confidential emotional support if someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, emotional distress, substance use concerns, or thoughts of self-harm. The Lifeline also offers chat support.

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 for free, confidential, 24/7 crisis support by text. This can be helpful for youth, teens, or adults who may feel more comfortable texting than calling.

Wolfson Children’s 24/7 Kids & Teens Mental Health Helpline: Call 904-202-7900 for emergency telephone support, assessment, crisis stabilization information, and referral to follow-up care for children, teens, and parents. Wolfson also lists Text LIFE to 741741 as a text support option.

Child Guidance Center- Rapid Response Program, Duval County: Child Guidance Center offers a Rapid Response Program described as a mobile response unit for individuals who may pose a risk to themselves or others. The program is listed as 24/7, for all ages, and across Duval County.

Florida Mobile Response Teams: Florida Mobile Response Teams provide in-person and telehealth crisis intervention services in settings where behavioral health crises occur. Teams may include licensed mental health professionals, peer recovery specialists, on-call psychiatric support, and support staff.

Recreation, Adaptive Sports & Inclusive Community Programs

Special Olympics Florida- Northeast Region: Special Olympics Florida offers year-round sports training and competition opportunities. The Northeast Region includes local county programs such as Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Nassau, Putnam, Flagler, and others, with sports such as athletics, basketball, bocce, soccer, swimming, bowling, flag football, softball, golf, and more depending on the county and season.

City of Jacksonville- Adaptive Recreation: The City of Jacksonville’s Disabled Services Division partners with local organizations to provide adaptive recreation opportunities, including sports and activities designed to improve quality of life, athletic ability, and community participation for individuals with disabilities.

Brooks Adaptive Sports and Recreation: Brooks Adaptive Sports and Recreation provides opportunities for people living with physical, cognitive, and visual disabilities to participate in a socially and physically active lifestyle through adaptive recreation and sports.

We Rock the Spectrum — Jacksonville: We Rock the Spectrum Jacksonville is an inclusive indoor gym designed to support movement, sensory processing, communication, social interaction, and play for children of all abilities.

Jacksonville Public Library- Sensory Supports: Jacksonville Public Library offers sensory-friendly supports such as quiet study rooms, sensory kits, noise-reducing headphones, communication cards, fidget tools, and weighted lap blankets to help guests with sensory sensitivities have a more comfortable library experience.

St. Augustine Alligator Farm- Sensory Inclusive Program: The St. Augustine Alligator Farm is KultureCity Sensory Inclusive certified and provides accommodations for guests with sensory needs, including autism, dementia, PTSD, and other conditions. Staff are trained to recognize and assist guests with sensory needs.

“Need help finding the right supports?” Contact us

Let’s Find the Right Support Together

Every child’s needs are unique, and choosing the right school environment is an important decision. We invite families to reach out, ask questions, and learn more about the supports available at The Mandala School. Our team is happy to connect with you, discuss your child’s strengths and needs, and help determine whether The Mandala School may be a good fit for your family.

LEARN MORE