Equine-assisted Occupational Therapy for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

University of Alberta

Status: Completed

Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder

Treatments: Other: Equine assisted occupational therapy

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02714101

Pro00031008

Details and patient eligibility

About

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder have difficulty engaging in activities. This study examined the effects of equine-assisted occupational therapy for 7 children with ASD ages 4 to 8 years. A multiple baseline design was used. For each child, there were 9 to 11 baseline assessments, 9 to 12 intervention sessions, and 4 follow-up sessions.

Full description

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have difficulty engaging in activities. Based on the literature, the unique features of horses may be beneficial to children with ASD. There is limited research supporting the use of horses in occupational therapy interventions. This study examined the effects of equine-assisted occupational therapy for 7 children with ASD ages 4 to 8 years. A multiple baseline design was used. For each child, there were 9 to 11 baseline assessments (gross and fine motor play activities), 9 to 12 intervention sessions, and 4 follow-up sessions (gross and fine motor play activities). Intervention sessions were 40 to 60 minutes long and consisted of time spent on the horse and in horse related activities. Children were videorecorded in all conditions. Trained coders scored randomly selected segments of the video recording. Inter-rater reliability was good.

Enrollment: 8 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 3 to 8 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• diagnosis of Autism spectrum disorder by a multidisciplinary team,
• between ages 3 and 8,
• understand basic English,
• willing to ride a horse, no horse riding in the past 3 months.

Exclusion criteria

• severe of repeated aggressive behaviour,
• comorbidities such as deafness that would interfere with intervention.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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8 participants in 1 patient group

Equine assisted occupational therapy

Experimental group

Description:

Intervention was one 40 to 60 minute session per week. Half of the session was spent riding a horse and half was spent doing horse related activities. Children had 9 to 12 sessions

Treatment:

Other: Equine assisted occupational therapy