There is limited research regarding the benefits of unmounted equine assisted learning (EAL) activities, therefore the focus of this DCE is to investigate the benefits of an EAL program for children with a variety of diagnoses. Participants ranged from 6 to 15 years old and included 2 male and 10 female. EAL program lesson plans were developed by an Occupational Therapy Student (OTS). The 12 participants were divided into four groups of two to four participants per group. Each group met one day per week for one-hour sessions for a total of six weeks. A Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH) certified instructor and OTS led the participants through a variety of EAL activities including grooming, feeding, tacking, leading, tack cleaning, horse stretching, and vital checking. A Goal Attainment Scale (GAS) was designed specifically for this project to measure social skills, problem solving skills, activity engagement, safety awareness, and lesson plan use. Data were collected through observation and recorded after each session by the OTS. It was found that participants had improved social skills and safety awareness at the end of the EAL program. Therefore, EAL programs may be an effective alternative or supplementation to tradition therapy, however future research needs to be conducted to verify these results.

Creator

• Graper, Neva

Contributors

• Fogo, Jennifer

Publisher

• University of Indianapolis

Language

• en

Identifier

• Graper. Neva.pdf

Keyword

• Health Sciences

• Occupational Therapy

Date created

• 2018-05

Rights statement

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/