An interventional study of Equine assisted occupational therapy in Autism Spectrum Disorder, sponsored by University of Alberta. Completed. Open to participants aged 3 Years to 8 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2016-03-21.
Sponsored by University of Alberta · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder have difficulty engaging in activities. This study examined the effects of equine-assisted occupational therapy for 7 children with ASD ages 4 to 8 years. A multiple baseline design was used. For each child, there were 9 to 11 baseline assessments, 9 to 12 intervention sessions, and 4 follow-up sessions.
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have difficulty engaging in activities. Based on the literature, the unique features of horses may be beneficial to children with ASD. There is limited research supporting the use of horses in occupational therapy interventions. This study examined the effects of equine-assisted occupational therapy for 7 children with ASD ages 4 to 8 years. A multiple baseline design was used. For each child, there were 9 to 11 baseline assessments (gross and fine motor play activities), 9 to 12 intervention sessions, and 4 follow-up sessions (gross and fine motor play activities). Intervention sessions were 40 to 60 minutes long and consisted of time spent on the horse and in horse related activities. Children were videorecorded in all conditions. Trained coders scored randomly selected segments of the video recording. Inter-rater reliability was good.
1,344 studies on the registry are indexed under Autistic Disorder; 334 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 8 is below the median of 45 across 1,044 interventional studies indexed under Autistic Disorder.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Intervention was one 40 to 60 minute session per week. Half of the session was spent riding a horse and half was spent doing horse related activities. Children had 9 to 12 sessions
Other: Equine assisted occupational therapy
Intervention was one 40 to 60 minute session per week. Half of the session was spent riding a horse and half was spent doing horse related activities. Children had 9 to 12 sessions
Rater coding of engagement
Trained coders rated the proportion of time the child was engaged in the activities
Time frame: One 5 minute segment per session for five months
Rater coding of enjoyment
Trained coders rated the number of times the child expressed enjoyment.
Time frame: One 5 minute segment per session for five months
No study locations are listed for this record.
Plan to share: No
This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2016. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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University of Alberta