Effectiveness of Therapeutic Horseback Riding on Social Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Shiraz, Iran

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.