Thinking about a number of disorders and diseases, the
common mode of treatment is medication or drugs prescribed by a physician. What
about when the disorder involves social challenges or communication
difficulties, which are not always able to be treated most effectively with
medication? Autism and autism spectrum disorders are characterized by
difficulties in social interaction, with severity and symptoms varying
immensely between affected people. Typical treatment has a focus on
modification and improvement of behavior and more recently, therapies involving
animals have been incorporated including equine therapy.
Equine therapy has shown to have promising results,
especially for those with disorders such as autism. Children learn to ride and
interact with the horses in a number of ways. While riding, the rocking,
rhythmic motion increases the focus on the movement leading to relaxation.
Physically, riding develops motor skills and the bonding with the horse can
influence self esteem and confidence which may carry over outside of therapy.
Tasks such as grooming the horse, and interacting with the instructor both stimulate
the senses and can help the child open up, improving verbal communication with
the people around them.
A recently conducted study involving the effects of equine
assisted therapy on autism spectrum disorders showed a clear improvement in
autism spectrum symptoms using equine therapy, the effect increasing as the
number of lessons increased. The study found that those with the most severe
autistic symptoms benefited the least amount as a result of these patients
being harder to reach and communicate with. The largest therapeutic effects
were seen for sociability and sensory/cognitive awareness, with 1/3 of the
patient’s improvement being clinically significant after the 12 week program.
With such positive results associated with equine and other
animal related therapies on autism and related disorders, hopefully we will see
an increase in their prevalence in treatment plans in the future.
Posted by: Morgan Matuszko (8)
Today is the seventh annual World Autism Awareness day! I know several people with Autism and it's very hopeful to hear that the equine assisted therapy continues to improve today. Do you know how many people the study was done on?
ReplyDelete-Amber Vien
The study was done with 68 people, a majority had autism but a few others had Asperger syndrome.
DeleteMorgan Matuszko
Over winter and summer breaks, I work at a school for children with behavioral disorders, with a large portion of these children being on the autism spectrum. Equine therapy is actually something that happens once a week for a lot of the children in the summer months. It really is remarkable to see it happen, and I always notice a difference with the kids after one of their sessions. Do you know how severe on the spectrum the participants in the study were?
ReplyDelete-Taylor Schille
25 of the participants were moderately autistic and 35 fell on the spectrum as being severely autistic.
DeleteMorgan Matuszko
This therapy seems really important to better treating autism patients. With the recent numbers for the prevalence of autism coming out I think we will see more "alternative" therapies like this coming out. I believe the most recent estimate for autism and autism spectrum disorders is 1 in 68 children. I wonder if horses work the best or if other animals are therapeutic as well?
ReplyDeletePosted by Tim Daly
The idea of using animals to help strengthen social skills of children on the autistic spectrum makes sense. Is there any reason why horses in particular are used? Are they more effective than other animals, such as a dog? It seems like equine therapy would be very expensive, so I wonder if a similar kind of therapy could be developed with a cheaper animal for those who can't afford time with a horse.
ReplyDelete-JE
Some studies showed the use of horses was in fact more effective than other animals. Most likely because of the ability to ride and actually sit on & control the horse in addition to being able to work with it on the ground. With other animals you do not have this range of activities available but still, other animals like dogs have still shown positive effects.
DeleteMorgan Matuszko
This is a really cool study. It's awesome to see alternative ways to help people with autism. Do you know if there is a certain age that benefits the most from equine therapy, or its open to all ages?
ReplyDelete-Samuel Ustayev