Equine facilitated academic intervention builds upon the social-emotional connections and life skills developed while working with equines to create strategies in specific academic areas. Students who struggle with math or reading are paired with an equine partner to progress through learning opportunities. There they learn a new skill, build fluency in a skill, or apply an existing skill to a new situation in a natural setting. Individual or small group experiential activities are designed by experienced teacher facilitators to meet the learning needs of each student.
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Parents and facilitators will review the student's current academic strengths, needs, and areas of interest. Facilitators then design individualized learning experiences to address a specific skill.
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As students move through sessions they create metaphors for academic skills while using props and toys to identify and challenge their personal obstacles to learning. Supported by their equine learning partners, students can break through the social emotional issues that block their progress. The equines help students develop new learning patterns and experience higher-order thinking skills such as applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating . Students are then encouraged to apply their new strategies in other learning situations.
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EFL is an experiential learning approach that partners with equines to promote the development of life skills for educational, professional and personal goals through equine-assisted activities.
What is Equine Facilitated Learning ?
EFL Benefits
Research has demonstrated the benefits of human- animal contact for learning and well being. It also shows that our brains are wired through hands on connections with the physical world. It is the equines who are sentient catalysts for change. Their survival instincts as prey animals make them ideal partners in helping children explore their own behaviors and responses to situations. As passionate educators we will provide a unique alternative to a traditional educational experience. With our equine partners, we will facilitate the discovery of individual learning strategies for students who might have difficulties in typical classroom setting.
How Does EFL Work?
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