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Parents, kids, researchers riding high on PATH to Success
WSU study confirms social value of working with horses
Tuesday, Mar. 27, 2012
By Julie Titone, College of Education
Daman Johnson and his daughter Kali participate in PATH to Success at WSU.
(Photos by Phyllis Erdman, WSU College of Education)
PULLMAN, Wash. - A horse is a horse, of course. It’s also a good teacher.
Horses in Washington State University’s PATH to Success program helped one dad, who admits to a short fuse, learn to start out gently when he asks his children to do something. Horses helped a mom remember to let her son make his own choices.
PATH to Success is an equine-assisted learning program directed at healthy youth development. When parents evaluate it, they tend to talk of wisdom gained. Researchers studying the program’s impact on children echo one young participant’s appraisal: "Awesome!”
The program is the brainchild of Phyllis Erdman, an expert in family counseling and associate dean of the WSU College of Education, and Sue Jacobson, who coordinates the College of Veterinary Medicine’s People-Pet Partnership. They designed PATH to Success to test their theory that working with horses would increase children’s social competence.
For example, Erdman said, horse handling teaches communication skills.
"It’s harder to communicate with horses because they can’t understand you, so you have to rely on clear messages, good listening and body language,” she said. "You also have to be assertive with horses, so they will acknowledge you as their leader, but not aggressive because that would scare them.”
Research confirms success
PATH to Success is the focus of a two-year study funded by the National Institutes of Health to examine the program’s effects on both social interactions and stress levels among fifth- through eighth-grade children. The principal investigator on the study is WSU’s Patricia Pendry, assistant professor of human development, who will present preliminary findings at the March 30 Academic Showcase.
Pendry and graduate student Stephanie Roeter gathered information on 64 children who participated in PATH to Success in fall 2010, as well as on children on a waiting list for the program. They compared how each group was faring at the beginning and the end of the 11-week session.
"The results are extremely exciting,” said Pendry. "Parents reported significantly more social competence – self-awareness, social awareness, goal-directed behavior and the like – in kids who had completed the program.”
Children’s social skills improved regardless of their gender, age, beginning levels of social competence or whether they were referred by school counselors, Pendry said. The researchers are analyzing data from a second group of participants.
Involving parents, too
 WSU’s Sue Jacobson helps a young rider. |
"The program has grown and we’re offering it four days a week for Pullman and Moscow kids, a total of 32 kids each semester,” said Erdman. "An exciting addition was last year was the summer session, which we call PATH to Success: A Shared Journey. In it, we work with parent/child teams to strengthen their relationship and worked toward shared goals.”
While PATH to Success involves some horseback riding, most of the lessons are done with participants’ feet on the ground. In the summer session, parents and kids learn that, if they want a horse to move, they should work with it in phases.
"You start with pushing him gently with your finger and just touching his hair,” Erdman said. "If he doesn’t move, you increase to pushing harder and touching skin, then muscle, then bone.”
That was the lesson that convinced the short-fused dad to start with calm requests instead of demands. The lesson also showed kids what it means to be responsible for their own behavior, said Erdman.
"Horses learn they have choices,” Erdman said. "They can either move with the gentle touch or they can choose not to, and then they get a harder touch as a consequence.”
"Horses learn they have choices,” Erdman said. "They can either move with the gentle touch or they can choose not to, and then they get a harder touch as a consequence.”
One mom who went through the program with her son said, "I learned to let him make choices, and that was hard for me … letting go of control.”
Future directions
PATH to Success: A Shared Journey will be offered again this summer with parent/child teams focusing on more targeted skills, such as how to offer encouragement and make choices. Family members will lead the horses through obstacle courses, among other activities.
"We’ll continue our program every spring and fall semester, working with area schools to get information to prospective children and parents,” Erdman said. "We hope to add a component that will focus on children with special needs. For example, we’re hoping we can determine what it is about the relationship with a horse that apparently benefits children on the autistic spectrum.”
Jacobson said that she, Erdman and Pendry are pleased that the program builds on WSU’s reputation as the home of the human-animal bond, defined by the American Veterinary Medical Association as "a mutually beneficial and dynamic relationship between people and animals that is influenced by behaviors that are essential to the health and well-being of both.” Study of the human-animal bond was pioneered by Leo Bustad, founder of the People-Pet Partnership.
For more information, visit the PATH to Success web page.
Contacts:
Phyllis Erdman, WSU College of Education, perdman@wsu.edu, 509-335-1738
Patricia Pendry, ppendry@wsu.edu, 509-335-8365
Phyllis Erdman, WSU College of Education, perdman@wsu.edu, 509-335-1738
Patricia Pendry, ppendry@wsu.edu, 509-335-8365
Julie Titone, WSU College of Education, jtitone@wsu.edu, 509-335-6850
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