Sitrin Health Care Center, Upstate Cerebral Palsy and Kelberman Center are fundraising to build an equine therapy center for kids with autism and other developmental and physical delays. These New York organizations will build the center on the Sitrin campus and will employ occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech therapists, and equine therapists. Studies have found that a horse’s movement mimics that of the human body; this in turn helps build muscle strength in kids who might be weak in those areas. In addition, being in relationship with a horse has been shown to promote calm, relaxation, social integration, and responsibility for people who receive equine therapy.
Read original article: Equestrian Therapeutic Center to be Built on Sitrin Campus
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Children with autism and horses
Jan 17, 2012 by AnonymousPREFACE:
My experience working with children diagnosed with Autism has been a little like knocking on the door to their place of business.
Option #1
Sometimes, no one answers the door and even if the hours of operation are posted, they are not always observed.
Option #2
If the door is answered, you rare sometimes invited in, but once inside you realize it is a waiting room where messages are exchanged. There is no direct contact. This can cause delays, miscommunication and confusion. Patience and timing are critical.
Option #3
With enough effort and understanding you are sometimes (and hopefully) invited into the main office and speak to the boss directly. In this setting, skills understanding and effort are still required but are less demanding and more productive.
This is the most rewarding and productive of the three options.
The equine program developed at the Westwind Rodeo Academy has facilitated the opportunity to enter the office and speak to the boss directly. (Remember - they are not YOUR boss, but the boss of the company you need to do business with.)
I personally believe it has been a key ingredient in several instances, in moving forward and grasping the potential for the Education system to assist and direct students diagnosed with Autism in their academic efforts and opportunities.
FOLLOWING : Is a cursory description of a multi-faceted program that will hopefully provide a glimpse into these concepts.
CAUTION: The thoughts information and data provided here are solely my responsibility and have not been endorsed, accredited, approved or even spell-checked by the Westwind School Division, the Westwind Rodeo Academy or any other authority.
Harlan (Lanny) Smith B.S.W., Family School Liaison Counselor
e-mail lannysmith56@gmail.com
The Program
More than just a riding program, the Westwind Rodeo Academy in Cardston Alberta provides a unique program centered on relationships that is based on a triad as part of a larger group of nine. Each child that attends the program is matched with a specific horse and equine specialist EQ (horse handler) that is chosen for their skills and experience working with children with special needs as well as their command of horse knowledge and competence.
The group of 9 is formed with 3 groups of 3 to allow for broader experience, interactive activities and comparative experiences and an ambience in the session. The selection of which 3 students will attend together is carefully considered and may include children with a variety of challenges not limited to Autism. The sessions are repeated for 6 consecutive weeks and may be repeated up to 4 times a year, space allows and need requires, although each section is provided as a stand alone intervention.
One of the most inspiring experiences is when children fully embrace the horse and the relationship when they take the opportunity to lay down on the horses back without saddle (sometimes with a bareback pad or blanket, but not always), and spend quiet time, just embracing the horse while the child is at rest. This can include conversation with the EQ as originated by the child and is largely a listening activity for the EQ, or just a silent time. This activity is sometimes suggested by the child and sometimes by the EQ and may occur at anytime during the session. It is can be used to de-escalate the child or address stress or emotional discomfort. It is also used as a modest celebration or reinforcement in the relationship.
Actual riding occurs during these sessions but is not the object or the goal. Many sessions pass without the child being on horseback as the situation dictates. Each session is focused on the child's orientation to the world around them as far as they can express through words, body language, choices or actions, their needs and concerns as well as interests and inclinations. Although safety is an over riding principal, convenience to the horse or EQ is secondary to the child's expressed or perceived preference.
We have witnessed EQ's trotting beside the horse as ridden by the child who has expressed a desire to have the horse move at faster than a walk.
(Again, safety is paramount which necessitates one or more EQs running beside the horse. In this case, the child's skills and aptitude to remain safely on the horse is previously determined. We also consider the horses history and attitude and performance on that particular day as part of the decision making process.)
This can be physically demanding and inconvenient for the EQ but a major contributor to the child's experience and benefit. The results the child experiences, the more effort required by the EQ to facilitate without imposing or tainting the child's experience.
The other component of this system is the support of a Mental Health Practitioner and supervision by the Facility Director. This completes the formal team. Decisions about activities, concepts and specific goals are managed by the Facility Director and Bahavior Specialist and the EQ's in consultation.
We have also encouraged with some success, the attendance to at least one of the sessions in each section by a significant family member as well as the students classroom teacher and possible other support personnel. These individuals are given direction about the concepts of non-interference and non-projecting on the child's experience while acknowledging the elements the child is embracing. They meet the horse, the EQ and observe the activities. We often take pictures or video and encourage this experience to be talked about at home and in the classroom.
Of course this is a snapshot of the experience in condensed form and there are many details and intricacies that cannot be explained or properly presented in this format. Overall, the development of this process has been most rewarding and inspiring and worth the investment of time, money and effort. It requires many elements working in concert to achieve this model. We are fortunate that these things have come together thus far.
Questions or comments leading to discussion and education are appreciated.
Movement Therapy
Aug 10, 2009 by AnonymousAutism Movement Therapy, Inc. is a nonprofit organization focused on serving the autism community by supporting autism research Dr Martha Herbert PhD, TRANSCEND RESEARCH PROGRAM - Mass General Hospital for Children) & environmental organizations The Natural Resources Defense Council & the Environmental Defense Action Fund helping to "clean/green" our planet.
Because Autism is ALL our Responsibility!
AMT is an autism intervention incorporating movement and music in collaboration with Positive Behavior Support (PBS) strategies to assist individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in meeting and achieving their speech and language, social and academic IEP goals.
Here is an article that appeared in Autism Aspergers Digest about AMT.
You can order the aut-erobics DVD!
Joanne Lara, MA is the founder.
Distance Advice
Jun 15, 2008 by AnonymousIn recognition of the fact that many families cannot travel vast distances in order to obtain treatment for their child, whether due to practical constraints, financial constraints, or other reasons, we are now offering 'distance advice.' Parents write or send an email to us briefly outlining their child's condition. We then ask them to fill out a detailed developmental questionnaire. When we have analysed the questionnaire and asked any supplemental questions we may have, we then devise a programme of developmental activities based upon the information we have gathered. It is stressed that it is then the responsibility of the parents to allow the child's doctor to see the programme so that he may suggest amendments in light of any medical problems the child may have. We find this system works quite well. I remember as a parent, the vast amounts of money I spent on travel and accommodation expenses to get Daniel to clinics both in the UK and internationally.
Please peruse our website, which can be found on http://www.snowdrop.cc
Strains, trains and automobiles
Mar 17, 2008 by AnonymousIt’s been a while since I’ve written…there’s been a lot of stress and drama here! Yesterday, we had a fun family outing. Thomas has been expressing interest in taking a train ride, and since we live so close to Chicago we thought we’d take the Metra downtown and see Sears Tower. It’s only a short walk from Union Station and there are special weekend family fares on the train, so we talked to the kids about it and they were excited to try it. They loved the train ride! Thomas had fun looking out the window and noticed that Jonathan and I were available for more interaction because we weren’t driving. He brought his little steering wheel along to pretend that he was driving. He has this miniature orange steering wheel that used to be on his Jeep walker when he was a baby. He went from crawling to walking so fast that he never used the walker much, but the steering wheel has been a perennial favorite. He brings it on almost every car ride to pretend he’s driving.
We got downtown and walked over the Chicago River which Hayley kept calling “a chocolate river;” likening it to the river in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie. The river is always a dull green, but being the day before St. Patrick’s Day, it was a bright green from the dye the city puts in. Jonathan and I didn’t like the river so much, worrying about how the kids wanted to stand a little too close.
We had to wait in several lines before actually riding the elevator up to the 103rd floor and Thomas had a hard time with it. His behavior wasn’t unbearable, but we could tell that he was antsy and wanted to keep moving. Standing still is really hard for him, but he has good times and bad times with it. We had to wait a lot longer to see Santa Claus in December, and he was better then.
We went up and looked out the windows – it was a beautiful day in our city and the views were spectacular, as usual (except for the days when there’s low-lying fog). The kids had fun looking at the tiny cars on the ground, and Hayley enjoyed the high-up view of the Chocolate River. I think that they were really too young to appreciate what they were looking at, but it was a fun activity. Jonathan and I have been there before as kids, and we remember it being more awe-inspiring as children, and also less expensive. We didn’t stay long because we had promised the kids ice cream if they were good, so they were very motivated to get to the Baskin-Robbins on Jackson Street. We rode on the top of the double-decker train on the way home, giving the kids a better view.
After we stopped at Subway to pick up dinner, the car died – we thought, for good. We were stranded in a parking lot near our home and the car was not able to be driven because of the torrent of oil pouring from beneath. I know that in a previous blog, I used the word “hemorrhage” to describe what was happening with the oil in the driveway, but the situation yesterday was a much better definition of that word. So we sat in the car eating our sandwiches and waiting for my dad to come and get us. The excitement was fun for the kids. “Why are we here?” Hayley kept asking. I was an emotional wreck, believing fully that the engine had finally gone its last mile and we’d have to take on a car payment in the morning. Even my father, who was an auto mechanic for twenty years and the original owner of our vehicle thought so. Unbelievably, there was only a small defective part and the car is running again and sleeping soundly in the driveway this evening, apparently not worse for the wear. When we were on our way home from picking the car up today, Hayley announced that she was very hungry and wanted a sandwich. “Don’t you have my sandwich, Mommy?” she asked. Because we fed the kids in the car yesterday, having no other option, she thinks that I have a stash of deli sandwiches in the glove box just in case she gets peckish on the road.
That was the stress and drama. I’m in much better emotional spirits tonight than I was last night.
Thomas is still doing great in school. This morning before Thomas got on the bus, he mentioned that he wanted to hold his little girlfriend’s hand at school today. When he got home, he reported that he had indeed held her hand and played with her. Thomas continues to be very popular with the ladies! His usual bus-buddy (a boy) has been sitting with another girl lately (you know how boys get in springtime, after all), so Thomas has been sitting with this other little girl who seemed very eager to have him in the seat next to her. She only goes Monday, Wednesday and Friday though, so Thomas doesn’t get to sit by her every day. This morning after I buckled him on the bus next to his bus girlfriend, I kissed him and told him to have a good day. His seat-mate puckered up for me to kiss her too! She’s a doll and I think Thomas likes sitting by her. I wonder what they talk about.
I got a letter from Thomas’ teacher last week saying that on Wednesdays, there’s a teacher at school who takes parents to their child’s elementary school to check out the kindergarten programs available for the upcoming year. Thomas’ teacher suggested that I look at the regular half-day kindergarten class and the MLP (Modified Learning Program – a class very like the one he’s in now in terms of class size) class. I think we’ll choose to have him split his morning between to the two programs but I am going to reserve the right to change his program if we see the need. Thomas’ preschool has been great about recognizing his changing needs but I’m not sure what to expect from the elementary school. I don’t know if they’re going to be as vocal about what they think Thomas needs or as good at communicating with us. His eventual kindergarten teacher is going to have around thirty kids in her class, so I’m not sure whose responsibility it will be to let us know how things are going or who will have time.
Easter is nearly here – I can’t remember St. Patrick’s Day and Easter being so close together ever before! On Friday, we’re going to color Easter eggs with the kids and possibly Jonathan’s brother’s family. We’ve never colored eggs with our kids before, but I’m hoping I can get them to eat some hard-boiled eggs! Otherwise, I guess I’ll just make egg-salad, which they also won’t eat. On Sunday, we’re going to Jonathan’s aunt’s house for dinner. Spring Break starts this Thursday and goes through March 28th. Then it’s only a short two months until school is over and summer is upon us. It doesn’t seem nearly warm enough for that! I’m wearing sandals on Sunday and I don’t care what the thermometer says. The calendar says it’s spring!