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Horse Therapy Shown to Be a Beneficial Therapy Treatment (via)

Every form of Autism is unique. There are many cases of Autism that are similar - similar symptoms, similar patterns, similar family background. However, it all boils down to the fact that people are different - so each Autism case will be different. Each and every story is very inspiring. Alexis Diaz’s story is no different.

Alexis is ten years old and has severe autism that prevents her from speaking and doing independent tasks that we often take for granted. She is unable to feed or bathe herself, and in addition she lost one of her eyes due to cancer.

Last year, Alexis was enrolled in the Therapeutic Riding of Texas (TROT) program, and made significant progress. The local news stations banded together and paid $700 for Alexis to attend the sessions.

Horse Therapy has been around for quite some time and there have been benefits noted in children with ADD and Autism. The mere act of being around a horse can change brainwave patterns — people feel more calm, at ease, and focus less on the past or negative events - so it’s a very enjoyable experience for them. Children with ADD/Autism Disorder have benefited as they are often unable to effectively communicate with other people and express themselves. Even those who are more aggressive and have severe behavioral issues have shown positive benefits from horse therapy. Even being around the horse has made these people much calmer, and more willing to communicate and be receptive.

How and Why Does Horse Therapy Work?

Horses behave in a way that is a direct reflection of how they’re being spoken to. They’re an animal of prey so they want to feel safe. If they’re being spoken to an an aggressive, angry or demanding way, the horse will become fearful. If the horse is spoken to calmly, smoothly and by making requests, they’ll be very receptive and obey such requests.

Children are ideal candidates to work with horses because with just a little insight on how to communicate with the horse, the child can learn how to change or control his/her behavior and see the effects from it. The child is more likely to consider this more of “making a relationship” with the horse rather than trying to dominate the situation and be in constant control.

After Alexis’ great outcome from her last TROT visit, she was very excited to head back this March. This year, however, the charity wasn’t sure if they would have the funds available to send Alexis back to the program. Alexis’ family is also on a limited income as her mother, Tammy Stewart, is a single mother who is unable to work due to Alexis’ need for 24 hour care.

Her attending the TROT program was almost definitely out for this year due to funding.

This past week, an anonymous letter was sent to Duncanville Outreach Ministry. Inside the letter was a $700 donation that was to go toward Alexis’ registration to this year’s TROT program. The donation was in the form of a Money Order with no return address. It simply said: “Sincerely, a Duncanville citizen who wishes to remain anonymous.”

Autism’s logo - a puzzle peice — is all too appropriate. Autism itself is a puzzling disorder. It comes in so many different forms, with many different symptoms.  There are many treatments available, and twice as many opinions about these treatments. It boils down to what methods and treatments work for your child.

Over the course of this blog, we’ve taken a look at a lot of different treatment options. Something we pride ourselves in is making you aware of everything that’s out there, so you can have the information necessary to make decisions based on what’s best for you and your situation.

Although Horse Therapy, or Equine Facilitated Learning (EFL), is not a DAN! protocol biomedical treatment, it’s something that I feel can be of real benefit to autistic children.

Just this week, I saw a post on an autism forum from one parent whose son was really benefiting from this type of therapy, so I asked her more about it and what it involved. She explained to me about how everything was done in small steps:-

1. Child introduced to the trainer and taken around the stables to see the horses and other animals, like chickens.
2. Child offered the chance to touch the animals or touch the straw bedding if touching the animals was too much for him. The child even got to look at the horse poo and to sniff it! The parent remarked how good this was for desensitizing the child.
3. Sitting on the horse - The final step was the parent lifting her son onto the horse. The trainer sat behind the child and the horse was surrounded by the child’s mother and three helpers, so the child felt completely secure.

In just 5 months, this sensory sensitive child is now able to ride the horse alone, with the help of a special harness and the trainer and a helper walking alongside. Wow!

The parent felt that this therapy was extremely beneficial to her son because the horse had a calming effect on him and he would often come out of himself during these sessions. She is combining the EFL therapy with biomedical treatment.

The Theory Behind EFL

Franklin Levinson, who has taken EFL and the work of the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association over to the UK, says:-

“It’s been clinically proven that just being in the vicinity of horses changes our brainwave patterns…They have a calming effect…giving them [the rider] a really positive experience.”

and the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association say that EFL:-

“encourages personal explorations of feelings and behaviors to help promote human growth and development.”

The idea behind EFL is that the child builds a partnership with the horse. A horse is always on the lookout for a leader and, by being calm and peaceful, a child can become the horse’s leader and so manage and command the horse. This type of therapy has been shown to be beneficial for children with autism, bipolar disorders and ADD, helping to calm them and making them more communicative. Being able to control a horse, and seeing it obey commands, also gives the child’s self-esteem a real boost.

It sounds to me that this type of therapy could be a great addition to a program of biomedical treatments. You can find out more at http://www.narha.org/ and read an article on it at http://www.wayofthehorse.org/Articles/horse-therapy.html.