Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of therapeutic horseback riding on social skills of childrenwith autism spectrum disorder. Participants were 6 children with autism spectrum disorder in a special educationcenter for autistic children in Shiraz, Iran. The hypothesis of the study was that participants would demonstratesignificant improvement in social skills following a 4-week horseback riding intervention. Using a One GroupPre and Post Test design, the Stone's social skills Scale was administered to assess the social skills of childrenwith autism spectrum disorder as pretest. Then the subjects participated in a 4-week therapeutic horseback ridingprogram consisting of two 45 minute session of riding per week. After completion of the 4-week intervention thepost-test was administered. Paired-samples t-test was utilized to analyze the data. The results indicated thattherapeutic horseback riding improves affective understanding and perspective taking, initiating interactions andmaintaining interactions significantly. It can be concluded that therapeutic horseback riding has a positive effecton social skills improvement.
Highlights
Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction significantly and generally appears before 3 years old (Smith et al, 2011)
Research hypothesis: Horseback riding improves the social skills of children with autism spectrum disorder significantly
0.003 total score of social skills. As it is seen in table 2, the total mean scores of social skills in children with autism spectrum disorder in post-test were higher than pre-test
Summary
Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction significantly and generally appears before 3 years old (Smith et al, 2011). It is necessary to plan and accomplish appropriate interventional programs to improve their social skills (Scottone et al, 2006). In this regard, various interventional methods and programs have been developed and applied throughout world. A variety of researchers have studied the efficacy of therapeutic horseback riding on the social skills of children with autism spectrum disorder and emphasized its positive results. As an example, Bass et al (2009) have studied the influence of therapeutic horseback riding on the social functioning of children with autism. The results indicated that autistic children exposed to therapeutic horseback riding exhibited greater sensory seeking, sensory sensitivity, social motivation, and less inattention, and distractibility behaviors and concluded that therapeutic horseback riding may be a viable therapeutic option in treating children with autism spectrum www.ccsenet.org/jel
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