Effects of Therapeutic Horseback Riding on Cognition and Language in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder or Intellectual Disability: A Preliminary Study

摘要: Objective To investigate if therapeutic horseback riding (THR) can improve language and cognitive function in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or intellectual disability (ID). Methods We conducted a prospective case-control study on diagnosed ASD ID. Eighteen 11 were enrolled for THR control groups, respectively. For 8 weeks, those the group underwent conventional therapy plus 30 minutes of per week while controls only received therapy. Participants' (using Receptive Expressive Vocabulary Test [REVT] Preschool Receptive-Expressive Language Scale [PRES]) abilities Kaufman Assessment Battery Children [K-ABC] domain Bayley Scales Infant Development-II [BSID-II]) assessed at baseline weeks after treatment. Results There was no difference between two groups. In group, there statistically significant improvements most domains including receptive expressive cognition compared to before THR. however, vocabulary ability by REVT BSID-II showed However, differences groups Conclusion These results suggest that might abilities. Although mechanisms pathways involved such are currently unclear based our findings, have potential optimize