hi. My name is Amanda, and I am volunteering at the Mattoon,IL (PET) Center. Which stands for Paradise Equestrian Therapy. We help disabled children learn by riding the horses. It helps give them strength while on the horse.
I have been told to research autism a nd come up with lesson plans. One of the children there is autistic and I am not able to get her to concentrate on what we are teaching her. If we hold up two numbers, and ask "which is 14" she will just guess. I am having a hard time understand and coming up with new tasks for her, because I am new to this. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, it would be wonderful! I would feel great if I was able to help this child before my time is up. Thanks so much and any information would be very helpful. Also, you can just e-mail it to amandajenne@hotmail.com, if that would be ok. Again, thank you for all of your help!
Hi Amanda! I think it's wonderful you are going to the lengths of educating yourself about the disabilities you work with. I have a couple of questions, if that's ok. I don't know anything about hippotherapy except what it is. Does the place you work for not require you to know about some disabilities and characteristics before you start to work with the children. I don't think it's quite fair that you are left on your own to "research Autism" since it's such a large area of study to be researching. Maybe you could ask them which areas of Autism they wish for you to learn about what areas of Autism they wish for the lesson plans to target. I mean, you could look at communication, social issues, gross and fine motor, coordination, etc. Someone in charge needs to give you a little more direction in the area.
That being said, what age is this child and what do you think are the biggest needs when working with this child? What would be one skill this child could learn that would make it easier for you to work with them? You say that if you show this child numbers and ask them to point to 14, they guess. What is purpose of knowing a skill such as numbers in hippotherapy? I could point you in some directions of places of to get lessons plan from, but I need to know exactly what your goals are.
Why does the child need to distinguish between two numbers? What, exactly, are you trying to teach her? Around here, parents I know who have put their children into hippotherapy situations have not said that the kids are forced to learn anything. Only enjoy the horse. I know one boy who NEVER gets on a horse. But he likes hanging out in the barn and mucking (go figure). It helps him. If you post exactly what you want to teach her, maybe we'll come up with something more useful for you. Also, keep in mind the adage, "If you've met one child on the autism spectrum, you've met ONE child on the autism spectrum."bumping