A little boy arrived at Dream Catchers at the Cori Sikich Therapeutic Riding Center, but his classroom teacher insisted there was no chance he would choose to get on a horse.
Thirty minutes into the lesson, his instructor had her doubts as well.
A special needs child, he could barely talk, and his teacher had worried about even bringing him on the group’s trip.
By the end of the lesson, though, he was riding one of the gentle giants who form the backbone of the Dream Catchers mission.
His teacher wept – as many do when they see the strides children with special needs make atop a horse.
The staff at Dream Catchers have more stories like it to recount: another boy who refused to wear shoes anyplace but at the barn, or a young girl who spoke her first word from the saddle.
The team at the nonprofit center knew therapeutic horseback riding was profoundly affecting these children with special needs, but they wanted science to back up their claims.
“We were hearing from parents how their children with autism were communicating around the horses, even if they weren’t talking,” said Nancy Paschall, executive director of Dream Catchers, who led an effort to discover if anecdotes indicated a pattern.
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The team from Dream Catchers will present findings from their studies at a free talk at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the William & Mary School of Education. The event is open to the public.
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So the board of directors established a research team in 2008 to dig into the notion that Dream Catchers’ curriculum made a difference for autistic children, both at the center and beyond it. What followed was a series of studies, each more in-depth than the last.
The findings: Therapeutic horseback riding boosts communication for children with autism, an improvement that translates to the classroom.
A collaborative effort with the College of William & Mary, the group leading the research includes Dream Catchers instructor Kim Wendell; board member and educational professor Dr. Sandra Ward, also a certified school psychiatrist; her husband Dr. Thomas Ward, also an education professor who teaches research and statistics; and Dr. Kelly Whalen, who is now with the University of Florida.
The team will share the most recent complete study, which was presented last year at an international conference for therapeutic horsemanship, at a talk at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the School of Education.
All the studies look at autism specifically, as it is the most common diagnosis across Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International, the global network of more than 800 centers for equine-assisted activities and therapies.
In that way, Paschall said, the work done in the Williamsburg area is relevant and can benefit similar programs throughout the world.
The team first took a precursory, qualitative approach, narrowing down what aspects of autism they wanted to zero in on for study. Observing four children experiencing therapeutic riding, they selected social communication – though not necessarily verbal – as a measure to consider, along with interaction through the senses and following instruction.
The next step was diving into harder numbers. Wendell led two school groups, as she normally does on a regular basis, working with children to help them express feelings, listen to directions and interact with the session through touch, sound and smell.
“There’s a process to the therapeutic riding,” Thomas Ward said. “It’s not just stick a kid on a horse, ride him around.”
What sets all of the research apart from previous studies is that it asks whether observations made at the barn extend to the classroom, Sandra Ward said. Classroom teachers independently assessed the students on a delay after they returned from Dream Catchers to see if changes stuck.
“We did not have a curriculum for social skills,” Sandra Ward said of the program at Dream Catchers. “We had a curriculum for therapeutic riding.”
But the result was significant improvements in communication, and some sensory processing, and not just in the equine setting.
That study was published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders in 2013, but the team was already working on determining what part of the experience at Dream Catchers was related to improvements.
In the next study, they isolated a control group, which came to the barn but did not set eyes on a horse — a difficult task, Wendell noted. Another group saw horses but did not ride, while the third had the chance to get in the saddle.
The research team did not see effects until the children started riding.
The methodology remained the same, with teachers entering data, while staff and volunteers at the center kept careful field notes.
“I think one of the aspects that makes Dream Catchers different is the willingness to invest formally in what they’re doing,” Sandra Ward said.
Allowing research at the center took a leap of faith, Wendell said – it was possible the study would not show a link between therapeutic riding and improvement for children with autism – but Dream Catchers believed in its mission and took the risk.
Now it can use the information to shape not only its own programs, but also to spread the information to families looking for interventions everywhere.
“The diagnosis of autism can be terrifying to a family, and we’re able to say, ‘Let’s try this, and here are some results we’ve found,’” Wendell said.
The changes might not be monumental, such as getting a child to put on his shoes, but Paschall said each victory is a small piece to build on for the future.
The research has given Dream Catchers valuable insight into its programs, in many cases affirming prior notions with objective fact.
For example, having consistency in the group of trained volunteers from session to session helps children, with six to eight weeks needed to show improvements. While stopping therapy hinders improvement, the study shows children will recoup lost skills when they return, even after weeks off.
Dream Catchers is working to publishing its program for use in other centers.
“We have people around the world who want our curriculum. … We’re putting into practice what we’re finding,” Paschall said.
The research team hopes to speak at this fall’s PATH International conference in Cleveland, while preparing for the event to come to Williamsburg in 2016.
Their latest research is still being conducted – studying whether trends continue as participants get older, how parents observe any improvements and how much progress can be made – and the team will spend this summer sifting through data.
About five other places in the world are doing this sort of on-site research, according to Paschall, which she said would not be possible in Williamsburg without funding from the Virginia Horse Industry Board and other groups.
She encouraged anyone who has in interest in autism or therapeutic riding to attend Thursday’s event, as it will give guests a chance to hear summary of a talk that was presented at an international conference in their hometown.
Click here to visit the Dream Catchers website.
Correction: Dr. Kim Wendell’s name was spelled incorrectly in an earlier version. Dr. Kelly Whalen, who is now with the University of Florida, is also helping to lead the research and has been added to this article.
