Specialised VET training on Hippotherapy for professionals working with children with intellectual, emotional, physical and psycho-motor disabilities

Generally in most of the EU countries like Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, people with different disabilities are treated according to their disorders they have according to the ICF framework. In the meanwhile all the diseases are being treated via bio psychosocial model, which means that focusing on the disorders is not enough. Active participation and inclusion of this group with disadvantages will give the opportunity to be more independent in their daily living activities. So supporting their motor, intellectual, and emotional and physicosocial development will improve their quality of life. So, hippo therapy is one of the best options, which will supports these areas of development in this group, which is not exist in our country yet. Meanwhile, our project aims to warrant training the professionals to become a hippo therapist and will allow this treatment to be available all over the country for this group with disadvantage. Since the regular hippo therapy training needs to have generalized and standardized program, only certified therapists can apply. The most amazing part of hippotherapy is that it challenges clients in a fun, dynamic way and allows them to self-generate and self-correct their motor plans and patterns and expand their repertoire in goal- and task-oriented ways. It contains everything a therapist could want for motor learning to be most effective: external and internal feedback, self-correction, and multiple system integration, all important for long-term motor plan development. As a result of this project the hippo therapist will be implemented in Turkey (foremost) as well as will be applied in Romania and Bulgaria. It will offer the opportunity to train other professionals as well. Since these countries have pony/horse clubs in different cities, it could be a great opportunity to use hippo therapy as an alternative treatment in the treatment of individuals with different disabilities. In the context of this project an ECVET compliant training will be developed, which will consist of theoretical and practical training, which is not established in these countries yet. Sharing the experience about the good practices in other EU countries such as Romania and establish trainings to become a hippo therapist in Turkey as well as Bulgaria is the main goal of this project. This will also lead to the preparation of the legislation by the related ministries for this new profession.Target groups as learners:• Registered physical or occupational therapist, and therapist assistants with at least minimum of basic horse experience in equine handling and care• Adaptive riding instructors, horse handlers, administrators, and others interested in hippotherapy principles with at least minimum of basic horse experience in equine handling and care• Speech language pathologist or a physician with at least minimum of basic horse experience in equine handling and care• Graduate occupational, speech, and physical therapists in their last semester of graduate school with at least minimum of basic horse experience in equine handling and careBeneficiaries from the improved services:• Children with intellectual, emotional, physical and psychomotor disabilities• Parents of children with disabilities • VET centers who are providing further qualification programmes • Therapy related centers on governmental, municipal or private management Outcomes• IO1: HIPPOTHERAPY curriculum and training modules• IO2: Mobile training and assessment application• IO3: Repository of training videosPartners:• TRo Gazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics - COORDINATOR – Turkey (hippotherapy experts) + lead on IO1o Equestrian Sport Club Ankara – Turkey (hippotherapy pilot site)o Spastic Children's Foundation of Turkey (hippotherapy pilot site beneficiaries)• ROo Asociatia de Terapii Suportive Hipoterapia – Romania (hippotherapy experts) + lead on IO3• BGo EcologyKM – Bulgaria (strong contacts with horse initiatives in BG where pilot outcomes will be piloted + development mobile app IO2)