Aidan Curtis
SOME very helpful animals are teaching primary school students vital life skills, including how to communicate their feelings.
Mount Gambier North School has been implementing Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) to help students self-regulate and gain independence.
The pilot program has been met with enthusiasm from the students, with data from the year showing promising results.
EAL facilitator and school special operations teacher Judy Jenkin said the program is more than “petting and playing with animals”.
“The focus is on self-regulation strategies so that [students] can become more independent and require less co-regulation from adults,” Ms Jenkin said.
“Language development has been huge, a lot of the kids couldn’t even describe their body parts.
“Probably the good thing is we’re starting to see some data around kids who are having less negative instances, less calls home.”
Ms Jenkin said the program will be implemented into the school’s health curriculum next year, which will likely have positive impacts on both school and home life.
“The view to next year is to deliver it in our junior primary cohort as an early intervention strategy so that we can teach those skills and they can implement them in the classroom and life,” she said.
“It’s a really good way for the kids to get an insight of what others need and recognition of not just themselves, but awareness of others around them and how what they do affects others.
“These students can now display the ability to be aware of what the animals are doing and keep themselves safe with them.”
She said she hopes to continue gathering data over the next few years and potentially expand the program into other schools.
