Horse Powered Reading

Fresh Steps EAP has a new program called Horse Powered Reading. This program can be offered on an individual basis, or in groups. Horse Powered Reading (HPR) was developed by Dr. Michelle Pickel of Cross P Ranch, who is a professor of Special Education at Concordia University, St. Paul. 

5 Key Reading Skill Areas:
Phonemic Awareness	Starts with infants, Kingergarden and into 1st Grade
Decoding	Can begin in Pre-School, and into grades 1 and 2
Vocabulary	Important both before and during school and at home
Fluency	Combining accuracy, speed and prosody
Comprehension	Not just literal, but the deeper meaning

The program combines the five key reading skill areas together with the four types of activities that can be developed using the EAGALA model. This is not psychotherapy, it is considered Equine Assisted Learning. We continue to require a therapist and equine specialist in every session because of the powerful nature of the model. 

Types of EAGALA Activities

Observation

Relationship

Movement/No Movement

Create

The horses in this case are used in many ways, to include (but are not limited to) acting as a reading partner, a character in a story, or a book, for example. Activities in groups include many pieces of play equipment that may have letters, parts of words, or complete words on them, such as cones, buckets, or balls. Each session starts with a lesson plan that describes clearly the skills to be taught or practiced, and continue with a flow during the lesson to accommodate the needs of the learners present.