Pushing a wheelbarrow may at first glance appear to be a simple and possibly mindless task. However, on further reflection this activity provides a great therapeutic opportunity for the individual.
Using a wheelbarrow requires focus, grasp and stepping as well as keeping the balance. This may seem easy to some, but for others it requires a lot of practice, willpower and focus.
Managing to achieve this skill is one way of learning by physical movement which has been shown to have multiple developmental benefits such as developing personal autonomy, agency and social awareness which in turn leads to self-generated conscious action.
In order to successfully push a wheelbarrow, we have to integrate our movement in the three planes of space (the frontal, the horizontal and the sagittal plane) which leads to cognitive, emotional and social development and health.
The physical movement of loading, pushing and emptying a wheelbarrow only makes sense if there is a purpose to it that goes beyond the therapeutic element. In Newton Dee this is the very important and useful task of delivering goods from workshops to houses, taking the recycling to the bins or moving woodchips to the gardens or farms.
In this way we can carry out meaningful tasks not just for the sake of a task fulfilled that needed doing, but an action that will have a profound therapeutic effect on the individual and support their development.
(Practicioner’s Guide, Ruskin Mill)