On October 2, 2017, Heidi Durham, M.S., CCC-SLP, a speech-language pathologist from the South Plains Rehab Center, lectured the class about hippotherapy. First, she presented a handout over the different principles of hippotherapy, and then the class watched video clips demonstrating the treatment strategies utilized on patients in a therapeutic environment. The goal for each therapy session included to improve the patient’s speech and language functions, so he or she can eventually achieve functional outcomes.
Ms. Durham described hippotherapy as an integrated treatment program that utilizes equine movement to improve specific skills for patients with functional disabilities and impairments. The movements of the horse, specifically the rhythm …show more content…
The first video clip displayed a therapy session of a three-year-old patient named Gage. The patient suffered from a traumatic brain injury, so his sensory, physical and cognitive-communication skills were severely impaired. The goals of the patient’s session included practicing his physical movements and responding to simple requests. The therapists facilitated strategies requiring the patient to verbally choose a toy ring’s color and physically put the toy ring on the model, “Woody’s”, hand. This activity allowed the patient to lean and rotate his body whenever he would reach towards “Woody”, so his postural stability and balance could improve. The patient’s speech production was not at an adequate level though, because his tongue was not lateralized, causing absent movement from side to side. This impairment required the speech-language pathologist to aid the patient every time a request was communicated. Another video clip previewed a three-year-old patient named Hanna. The patient exhibited an anoxic brain injury and was diagnosed with down syndrome, so she experienced a neurological motor issue with her speech. Her therapy session focused on improving stability and verbal communication skills. The patient either rode the horse sideways or backwards to enhance stability and sensation in her hands, neck and tongue, as she would rotate from each activity. The activities
Ms. Durham described hippotherapy as an integrated treatment program that utilizes equine movement to improve specific skills for patients with functional disabilities and impairments. The movements of the horse, specifically the rhythm …show more content…
The first video clip displayed a therapy session of a three-year-old patient named Gage. The patient suffered from a traumatic brain injury, so his sensory, physical and cognitive-communication skills were severely impaired. The goals of the patient’s session included practicing his physical movements and responding to simple requests. The therapists facilitated strategies requiring the patient to verbally choose a toy ring’s color and physically put the toy ring on the model, “Woody’s”, hand. This activity allowed the patient to lean and rotate his body whenever he would reach towards “Woody”, so his postural stability and balance could improve. The patient’s speech production was not at an adequate level though, because his tongue was not lateralized, causing absent movement from side to side. This impairment required the speech-language pathologist to aid the patient every time a request was communicated. Another video clip previewed a three-year-old patient named Hanna. The patient exhibited an anoxic brain injury and was diagnosed with down syndrome, so she experienced a neurological motor issue with her speech. Her therapy session focused on improving stability and verbal communication skills. The patient either rode the horse sideways or backwards to enhance stability and sensation in her hands, neck and tongue, as she would rotate from each activity. The activities