HAE Interactions as Context

Learning, Adapting and Looking Ahead Helps Student Prepare for Future

April 19, 2022

This study is the first in a series of qualitative studies, and focused on describing the essence and nature of special education teachers’ lived experiences in incorporating nature-based interventions as a tool to improve youth social-emotional learning outcomes and promote positive youth development. It is also one of the first to examine nature-based interventions that are being implemented in a positive youth development context. This approach uses a strengths-based lens that views youth development as a process of mutual influence between youth and components of their social, constructed, and natural environment.

Almost universally, teaching staff perceive nature-based interventions to effect marked improvement in:

Prosocial behavior

Caregiving and nurturing

Connection to animals, plants and humans

Curiosity and excitement about learning

While staff acknowledged occasional or temporary challenges and barriers to student participation, overall, the nature-based activities are viewed as an essential component of the Green Chimneys education and treatment model.

Barred Owl

This barred owl fell from his nest and ended up on the ground in New Paltz, NY where he was rescued and cared for but it was quickly apparent that he was severely disfigured. He had a twisted, crooked beak, his wing feathers weren’t fully developed and one eye was shut while the other did not look as it should. This was not a bird that could be released back into the wild. Green Chimneys wildlife specialists worked with a local veterinary hospital to improve the bird’s health and determined that the owl was totally blind in one eye and 80-90% blind in the other.