Well as Mark's book is not very enlightening on the subject I thought maybe NR wisdom could controb ute to this topoc....
I work with children in care delivering a holistic therapeutic package to each child. When I or my staff first meet them, the key part of the assessment is to find the missing links in their social and emotional development.
We learn most of what we need to know - or at least the precursors of all other skills - in the first 2 years of life. Miss out then and you will have on-going skills deficits in emotional regulation, behavioural control, communication, social interaction and relationships.
Knowledge is like a chain: being reliably soothed as an infant teaches you to be soothable. Being soothable is necessary before you can self soothe. Self soothing is the foundation of emotional self regulation. Emotional self regulation is necessary for problem solving. (You need to stay calm and keep thinking to problem solve). etc etc etc
Similarly being given consistent boundaries is a precursor to develop frustration tolerance. Frustration tolerance is needed for behavioural control. Behavioural control is needed to manage relationships.
Even trust is a skill. A skill we normally learn in infancy but sometimes have to re-learn this if in fact we were abused/harmed and afraid in those first few years so learned to mistrust instead.
So we look for skills and skills deficits across a range of key domains, we identify the gaps and we re-teach those skills within a trusting relationship in a predictable environment. Which brings me onto horses..... (got there in the end!)
I think horsemanship is the same. I think horses sometimes have gaps in their early education which leads to a whole host of other problems later on. My problem is I am not sure how to identify gaps. These are not 'the things the horse can do'. More they are the building blocks on which everything a horse then needs to lean can be built.
Things like:
Trust in humans (if a horse is afraid nothing else will get learnt)
Confidence in self (to be willing to try)
Stress management skills (being able to cope with worry/uncertainty without fleeing)
Problem solving skills (being able to think through a situation and offer responses).
Horse-human Communication skills - (which are probably built on a belief that a) it is possible to communicate with us and b) we are willing to listen. )
So my question is: how to identify these skills or gaps and how to teach them? And am I missing important domains?
Any thoughts?
I work with children in care delivering a holistic therapeutic package to each child. When I or my staff first meet them, the key part of the assessment is to find the missing links in their social and emotional development.
We learn most of what we need to know - or at least the precursors of all other skills - in the first 2 years of life. Miss out then and you will have on-going skills deficits in emotional regulation, behavioural control, communication, social interaction and relationships.
Knowledge is like a chain: being reliably soothed as an infant teaches you to be soothable. Being soothable is necessary before you can self soothe. Self soothing is the foundation of emotional self regulation. Emotional self regulation is necessary for problem solving. (You need to stay calm and keep thinking to problem solve). etc etc etc
Similarly being given consistent boundaries is a precursor to develop frustration tolerance. Frustration tolerance is needed for behavioural control. Behavioural control is needed to manage relationships.
Even trust is a skill. A skill we normally learn in infancy but sometimes have to re-learn this if in fact we were abused/harmed and afraid in those first few years so learned to mistrust instead.
So we look for skills and skills deficits across a range of key domains, we identify the gaps and we re-teach those skills within a trusting relationship in a predictable environment. Which brings me onto horses..... (got there in the end!)
I think horsemanship is the same. I think horses sometimes have gaps in their early education which leads to a whole host of other problems later on. My problem is I am not sure how to identify gaps. These are not 'the things the horse can do'. More they are the building blocks on which everything a horse then needs to lean can be built.
Things like:
Trust in humans (if a horse is afraid nothing else will get learnt)
Confidence in self (to be willing to try)
Stress management skills (being able to cope with worry/uncertainty without fleeing)
Problem solving skills (being able to think through a situation and offer responses).
Horse-human Communication skills - (which are probably built on a belief that a) it is possible to communicate with us and b) we are willing to listen. )
So my question is: how to identify these skills or gaps and how to teach them? And am I missing important domains?
Any thoughts?