Impact of Therapeutic Riding for Families with ASD children – A Case Study 2015

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are associated with a wide range of functional impairments that
can cause multiple challenges to the daily lives of affected families. The impact of therapeutic riding lessons on families with children diagnosed with ASD is discussed in this paper. Through the exploration of the key stressors on these families, a case study is used to illustrate the benefits of therapeutic riding for the whole family. Therapeutic riding engages these children cognitively, emotionally, and physically and has the potential to improve their social and verbal skills as well as increase their sensory processing tolerance. This, in turn, improves their ability to tolerate changes in their routine, communicate within their family, and improve parent-child and sibling relationships whilst increasing the family’s sense of freedom.