If you google the words autism and behaviour you get almost two million results. There is an entire industry devoted to providing behavioural treatment and management programs to children with autism. Remediating, reshaping, eliminating, reinforcing and controlling behaviour has become a priority.
We tend to categorize most behaviours as either good or bad. The problem with labeling behaviour in this way is that we then attach judgments and emotional reactions to it. This is more so the case with “bad” behaviour. Good behaviour often is overlooked or ignored. Let’s face it if every child out there exhibited only good behaviour all of us professionals would be out of work. So our priority is to focus on the “bad” stuff and fix it.
In the horse world remediating bad behaviour is even more important because it can be life threatening to humans. Horse people constantly judge their horses’ behaviours from a human point of view. When I first started riding horses I was amazed at how many horses were labeled stupid, stubborn and non-compliant.
When we think that our horse’s behaviour is intentional or deliberate dealing with it can be a very adversarial process resulting in a lot of emotion on both sides. This emotional reaction colours our judgment and prevents us from effectively understanding what is really happening.
I was taught to look at a horse’s actions from a different perspective. Horses cannot separate how they feel from how they behave. They cannot mask their emotions with physical actions. Their reaction is instinctive, and in their mind, a logical response to whatever is happening in the world around them.
Mark Rashid, a well-known horse trainer, says that we need to look at behaviour from a different perspective. He says that the horse’s behaviour is “informing us of what is truly going on internally.” He suggests that we replace the word behaviour with the word information. In doing so we consider that the horse is only providing us with information or feedback as to how it feels. Information is a term that carries far less emotional impact than the word behaviour.
Many of my students are non-verbal or have difficulties accurately expressing how they feel. The only way they can really communicate with me is through their behaviour. I believe that, like my horses, their physical reactions are instinctive and truly reflective of their feelings. If I consider these actions as information that is being offered to me, then I am able to put aside my own emotional reactions as I focus on interpreting the message. I can move from “How dare you behave in this manner,” to “What are you really trying to tell me?”
It’s so easy for most of us to express our feelings in a few words: I love you, I hate you, I am afraid, I really don’t want to do that. It’s also easy for us to forget that not everyone can do so. Before we start managing behaviour we should first to listen to the message behind it.
