Lessons from horses
Three educational interventions on the well-being of students with special needs
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7146/pl.v44i2.151590Keywords:
Equine-assisted social education, special education, well-being, intervention, informal learningAbstract
The article summarises a previous study examining three interventions and whether they influence the well-being of 3rd and 7th grade students with special needs in one municipality in southern Finland. All three interventions are carried out once a week for eight weeks during the spring semester, from February to May. This study’s primary intervention is a non-verbal and informal learning activity with horses called equine-assisted social education (EASE). This programme is practised in a stable environment. The other two interventions are implemented in classrooms. Aggression Replacement Training® (ART) is a programme designed to improve behaviour by teaching anger managementATH) requires students and social competence. Co-operational mathematics (M
to collaborate in pairs or groups to be able to solve mathematical and problem-solving tasks. Besides intervention groups, there is a treatment as usual (TAU) as a passive control group.
60 students in regional special classes participated in the study. The data are collected both before and after the intervention. The data from the control groups are collected at the same time as the test groups. The Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) is used as the main instrument. In addition, four parallel instruments assess aggression, empathy, locus of control, and loneliness. The results are analysed with non-parametric tests because the groups are small. In addition, the results of ASEBA do not follow the normal distribution. This study found that the students who participated in the EASE intervention had improved their well-being in many areas. The Related-Samples Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks test shows that withdrawn-depressed symptoms, somatic complaints, social problems, attention problems, and aggressive behaviour of the boys involved in the EASE intervention are statistically significantly lower after EASE activities. Statistically significant results are also obtained for the well-being of students in other groups. The internal locus of control decreased in the boys of both the EASE and MATH groups. The ART group students’ thought problems and rule-breaking behaviour were reduced after the ART programme. Although the TAU group does not participate in the extra intervention, there are also statistically significant differences in the well-being of these students. The withdrawn-depressed symptoms and the thought problems of the TAU group are reduced, and fantasy related to empathy improves.
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