Effectiveness Of Hippotherapy for Communication Development of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Case Study in The Malaysian Context

Abstract

Hippotherapy may be considered as an alternative form of treatment strategy for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The purpose of the study is to investigate how the participants of this study perceive the effectiveness of Hippotherapy in aiding students with ASD with their communication development. Case study is employed as the research design to provide an in-depth understanding of the effectiveness of hippotherapy for communication development of students with ASD. Interviews, observation and document analysis are the data collection methods. The four participants interviewed were experienced, senior instructors that manage the Hippotherapy sessions for many years at the only two hippotherapy centres in Malaysia. They have given a lot of insightful thoughts and ideas on how they perceive the effectiveness of Hippotherapy in aiding students with ASD with their communication development. This study found three main themes that influence one another in the context of communication development; Motivation to communicate, Spontaneous verbal and non-verbal communication and Instructor incorporating games and activities in a relaxed environment for communication. The recommendation of this study is for hippotherapy to be used as a therapy for communication development of students with ASD.