"Good with horses": A case study of equine assisted intervention mediated by sign language.

Recent reviews find Animal Assisted Interventions to be promising in the field of developmental disorders. For example, Peters & Wood (2017) concluded that there is now “broad proof of concept” that Equine Assisted Interventions can benefit children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, people with ASD may have additional challenges, making cases rather unique and requiring tailor-made solutions. Our case study concerns two 18-year old men with profound hearing impairment and several other diagnoses. We interviewed the adolescents themselves (via a sign language interpreter), their mothers, their special education teachers, and the certified “handicap riding instructors” who planned and provided sign language based riding therapy for them over several years. The gains described included improved balance and body sense and an identity as someone who is “good with horses”. The protagonists and their families expressed joy and pride in their accomplishments. Moreover, the riding instructors were also certified special education teachers and continuously adjusted the tasks on and around the horses to become contributors to development of cognitive and collaborative competences. In our analysis, we use Jerome Bruner’s concepts of scaffolding (e.g., Woods et al, 1976) and narrative self (Bruner, 1997) to describe this case as tailor-made Equine Assisted Pedagogy (cf. IAHAIO, 2018, on Animal Assisted Education/Pedagogy).