Effects of Equine Assisted Therapy on Response Reaction Time and Attention Span of Youthswith Autistic Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to develop and investigate the effect of equine assisted therapy on the reaction time and attention span of youths with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). This research was a quasi – experimental design. The participants in this study were 6 autistic youth aged 14–25 years. They were selected by purposive sampling. These participants participated in equine assisted therapy, twice a week, for a 4 week period. Each session took 80-90 minutes. The instruments of the pretest and posttest research outcome measures included 1) A multi choice reaction timer to measure reaction times of participants 2) a set of activities, consisting of a structured activity and semi-structured activities, to evaluate the attention span of participants. The Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test showed that the duration and number of distractions were significantly decreased in both structured and unstructured activities, and reaction times were significantly quicker (P <.05). Therefore, equine assisted therapy is applicable for improving reaction times and attention spans of youths with autistic spectrum disorder. Keywords : Equine Assisted Therapy, Youth with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Attention, Reaction Time

Keywords

• Equine Assisted Therapy
• Youth with Autistic Spectrum Disorder
• Attention
• Reaction Time