Influence of equine therapy in treating autistic children 5 to 7 years

Abstract

Background: equine therapy is a therapeutic option based on the principles of behavior modification, which have proved very useful for autistic children.

Objective: to demonstrate the feasibility of using equine therapy as an alternative in the treatment of autistic children.

Method: an experimental study was carried out at the Provincial Center of Hippotherapy in Ciego de Avila; used as a method of research case studies. 10 children with autism spectrum, of both sexes, between the ages of 5 and 7 years were evaluated. Hippotherapy sessions were conducted with a frequency of twice a week and last one hour. The benefit was assessed using the Aubrey H. Fine’s Test of Horse Assisted Psychotherapy, an evaluation form that measured the appearance "care" and bimonthly meetings with parents of patients. The Mann-Whitney test was used with significance level of P <0.05 for the comparison of means.

Results: Aubrey H. Fine’s Test of Horse Assisted Psychotherapy evidence during equine therapeutic treatment, sustained progress; in the initial measurement values has a range between 31 and 37 points, and the end of the fourth quarter the maximum values are between 47 and 52 points. Also in the evaluation form aspect attention gradual improvement is observed.

Conclusions: the results allow to conclude that equine therapy is a viable and effective alternative for the use in autistic children rehabilitation.