2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference

March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH

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3/18/2018  |   9:00 AM - 4:00 PM   |  Horse As Interventionist: An Interactive Relationship-Focused Experience for Parents and Providers   |  Off-Site

Horse As Interventionist: An Interactive Relationship-Focused Experience for Parents and Providers

Most commonly, equine therapy, or hippotherapy, is used as a term for equine-assisted activities, including occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy. However, equine therapy can include all of these benefits while also exploring psychological, emotional, and relationship development. What can horses teach us about relationships? Horses are incredible models regarding transformative relationships and parenting. They offer invaluable lessons on how to navigate relationships across our differences, how to establish and maintain harmony, and how to get “unstuck” when facing resistance or obstacles. They highlight and help us deconstruct our assumptions and biases regarding people who are different from us. They rely heavily on the establishment of clear communication, and they do not judge. Due to the poignancy of equine therapy interventions, horses can optimally support self-awareness, emotional regulation, nervous system regulation, emotional availability, and caregiver responsiveness to children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. The therapeutic metaphors and parallels between parenting/early intervention and horsemanship are profound. With horses as our guides, we will integrate theory with practice, enhancing our relational toolbox in the EHDI field. In this session, Jessica Dallman will facilitate a full-day immersion in the synthesis of early intervention and equine therapy at Happy Dog Ranch Foundation (www.happydogranch.org). In this nature-based setting, participants will learn from horses how to optimize the social-emotional development of deaf/hard of hearing children and their families, and will be empowered to solve for gaps in the EHDI system through a facilitated interspecies relationship. The session does not require prior experience with horses, and will include off-site transportation.

  • Participants will understand the synthesis of early intervention theories and best practices with equine therapy principles.
  • Participants will experience a hands-on application how the combination of early intervention, trauma informed care, and infant mental health, as facilitated by horses, optimizes social-emotional development in deaf and hard of hearing children and their families.
  • Participants will be able to identify physiological measures of stress, symptoms of a dysregulated nervous system in self and others, and how equine therapy can facilitate nervous system regulation.

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Presenters/Authors

Jessica Dallman (), Natural Wisdom Counseling LLC, jessicadallmancounseling@gmail.com;
Jessica Dallman is a tri-lingual (English, ASL, Spanish) multicultural counselor based out of Wisconsin. Jess is passionate about weaving together trainings as a wilderness/equine therapist (Naropa University), special education teacher (Teach for America), early interventionist (Gallaudet University), and infant mental health specialist (UW-Madison) to serve clients and the community. She has an interdisciplinary, relational, and social justice framework that she brings to all of her work. Jess launched the Wisconsin Hawthorn Project, a free trauma-informed care resource for agencies that serve children and families, and provides Reflective Supervision/Consultation to organizations serving young children.


ASHA DISCLOSURE:

Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.

Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.