第十六屆 馬術治療活動對智能障礙兒童之介入成效：個案研究

馬術治療活動對智能障礙兒童之介入成效：個案研究

The Effects of Therapeutic Riding on a Child with Intellectual Disability: A Case Study

林懿慧¹ 張茹茵²*

I-Hui Lin¹  Ju-Ying Chang²*

¹高雄市鎮北國民小學、²屏東大學特殊教育學系

¹Zhenbei Elementary School, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ²Department of Special Education, National Pingtung University, Pingtung, Taiwan

Background and Purpose: Therapeutic riding, in combination with treatment program, integrates appropriate sensory integration strategies into the treatment of facilitating postural control and motor performance. It can be used to accomplish goals that enhance physical, psychological, and educational skills for children who have disabilities. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of 12-week therapeutic riding on enhancing postural and motor control performance and communication behaviors of preschool children with intellectual disability. Methods: The sequential-withdrawal design was used in this study. One preschool girl with intellectual disability was recruited. A custom postural and motor control assessment tool and a custom communication behavior assessment tool were used to evaluate the motor performance and communication behavior respectively. Changes of the outcomes were analyzed by visual inspection, C statistics, and regression effect size, assuming an alpha level of .05. Qualitative data were collected by interviews and observations. Results: The immediate effects and lasting effects of therapeutic riding on enhancing postural and motor control performance were observed. However, the therapeutic riding had no significant effects on promoting the communication behavior. Qualitative data by interviewing teachers and parents demonstrated that the therapeutic riding had positive influences on the participant’s motor performance as well communication behavior. Conclusion: The preliminary results support the efficacy of therapeutic riding on motor performance in child with intellectual disability. Benefits in communication behavior were approved by social validity data.

Keywords: Therapeutic riding, intellectual disability, motor performance, communication behavior