Effects of Therapeutic Horseback-Riding Program on Social and Communication Skills in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

This research review looked at whether horse-riding therapy helps autistic children with social skills and communication. The study found that therapeutic horse-riding programs can significantly improve how children interact socially and communicate with others. Children showed better social awareness and motivation after participating in these programs. However, the therapy didn't help with difficult behaviors like repetitive actions or inappropriate speech.

This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the effects of therapeutic horseback-riding (THR) programs on social and communication skills in children with autism spectrum disorder. Researchers conducted a comprehensive search across five databases following PRISMA guidelines through February 2022. The meta-analysis found that THR programs significantly improved social behaviors and communication skills, with positive effects on social awareness, social cognition, social motivation, and social communication. However, the intervention showed no statistical evidence of effectiveness for challenging behaviors including irritability, stereotypy, and inappropriate speech.

The authors concluded that THR represents an effective therapeutic approach for addressing core social and communication deficits in children with ASD.

THR programs appear to be a viable therapeutic option for improving social and communication skills in autistic children. However, clinicians should note that this intervention may not address challenging behaviors and should be considered as part of a comprehensive treatment approach targeting specific social communication goals.

The abstract does not report the sample size or number of included studies, limiting assessment of the meta-analysis scope. No information is provided about study quality, heterogeneity between studies, or potential publication bias, which are important considerations for interpreting meta-analysis results.

Animal-assisted therapy has become a fast-growing and effective approach for remediating core impairments of children with ASD; however, recent systematic review studies on the effects of AAT in children with ASD have some limitations, including referral to a variety of animal-assisted interventions rather than to horseback-riding therapy alone and the absence of any meta-analysis in systematic reviews. A complete systematic review of the studies that describe the use of THR as an intervention is needed to specifically target the core impairments of children with ASD. The purpose of this study was to employ the systematic review method to synthesize research findings regarding the effects of THR programs on the social interaction and communication skills of children with ASD. We conducted a structured search in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

We searched for potentially relevant studies in five databases (Web of Science, PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, and SPORTDiscus) from inception until February 2022. In addition, we manually searched the bibliographies of the included studies to find articles that might otherwise have been missed. We considered articles eligible or ineligible if they satisfied specific inclusion or exclusion criteria. Our results showed that the THR program is an effective direct and alternative therapeutic program that can considerably improve the social behaviors and communication skills of children with ASD and can effectively impact autistic impairments in areas such as social awareness, social cognition, social motivation, and social communication.

These findings are in line with those of previous studies; however, we did not find statistical evidence of any effect of THR on the autistic behaviors of irritability, stereotypy, and inappropriate speech. In conclusion, the findings produced by this meta-analysis study provide evidence that THR programs can considerably improve the social behaviors and communication skills of children with ASD.