When I started this blog a few months ago I didn’t really have a specific idea or direction in mind. Having been in special education for thirty-five years I wanted to share my knowledge and experience with others in some way but I wasn’t sure how I could be most effective.
I have written some informational posts about bike riding and funding resources that I hope were helpful but now I would like to take this blog in a different direction. I believe that a blog should be personal as well as informative and as such should reflect my own personal learning experiences. I am not a natural writer. Although I like to write I find it a struggle unless I the subject is something that I am really passionate about.
What I would really like to share with readers are my personal stories about my two passions in life: teaching children with special needs, and working and living with horses. Although these two subjects may seem worlds apart to many people they have completely connected in a unique way for me.
When I first became involved with horses I had been in the field of special education for 25 years. I was well known and had a good reputation. I had many clients in my programs and I seemed to be getting good results with my methods. But I had fallen into the mindset that my methods were always right and they were the answer for everybody. If those methods didn’t always work for all it certainly wasn’t my fault.
My horses completely changed my way of thinking. They simply insisted that I had to work with them on their terms. To gain their cooperation I had to learn to speak their language, and see their world through their eyes. For the first time I understood that I needed to acknowledge someone else’s perspective instead of attempting to change or fix them to fit my own idea of what was right. Instead of delivering instructions I had to make requests and provide support. I am sure that it will be a life-long project but my horses are teaching me to be more supportive, more empathetic and more open-minded.
I believe that as professionals in the field of disability services, we can all do much better. Instead of trying to ‘fix’ our clients we need to acknowledge and respect them for who they are and for their abilities and potential. We need to develop real relationships with our clients and that we need to be equally responsible for our role in that relationship. If we encounter difficulties we need to look to our own behaviour and actions first. As Temple Grandin states “If you want to change behaviour of the child first look at your own. Behaviour is the end result of interaction between the child and his or her environment and this environment includes the people in it.”
With the assistance of my horses I now offer workshops for professionals. One of the first activities in the workshop involves leading the horse around the arena. Invariably participants pick up the lead rope and head off, dragging their horse behind them. They then declare that their horse is either lazy, or stubborn or it simply doesn’t want to cooperate. I have to explain that they need to engage their horse to move forward willingly with them by demonstrating empathy, respect and a willingness to listen. If they move forward side by side with their horse as a willing partner it is far easier to reach their goal. Those very same principles also apply to the people that we live and work with.
