As part of my master's thesis, I conducted research on the learning of social skills in youth with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) through the use of horses, based on a pilot program I designed for this purpose.
In the theoretical part, I presented the theoretical foundations for defining youth with EBD, social skills, and different forms of assistance with horses. I relied on research findings that examined social skills in children with EBD and interventions involving horses.
In the empirical part, using a qualitative research approach, I investigated whether the pilot program I prepared contributes to the learning of social skills in youth with EBD. I implemented a program based on activities with horses, experiential pedagogy, and socially interactive games. Seven sessions took place in the stable and its surroundings, involving two horses trained for horse-assisted activities. The group of youth consisted of three participants: a boy and a girl with EBD and a girl without special needs. The analysis was conducted based on interviews with parents of youth with EBD, interviews with the youth themselves, completion of unfinished sentences by the children, and diary entries from the sessions.
The results showed that the Horse-Assisted Social Skills Learning program enabled the youth with EBD to enhance their (selected) social skills in a safe and accepting environment. The horse proved to be a key motivator for learning social skills, facilitating both direct and indirect social skill acquisition. The heterogeneous composition of the group, considering the presence or absence of EBD, emerged as an important factor in learning social skills.
The evaluation of the obtained data will contribute to the development of a program that could be implemented within the activities of a specialized center for children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders. The contribution to the field lies in the innovation of horse-assisted activities and the introduction of a new working method to the methodology of social pedagogy.
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