1) My
essential Question is, “What is the most important benefit a child with special
needs receives through equine assisted therapy?” My best answer is the movement
of the horse is beneficial to the patient. Hippotherapy is unique because it incorporates
the horse into the treatment process. There is no other therapy that can
compare. Without the horse, the therapy would be just like any other strategy.
The horses walking gait is exactly the same as a human’s walk. If there were no horse and no benefits of the
horse’s walk, my other answers would not exist. This is why the movement of the
horse is my best answer.
2) I
began the year interested in doing my senior project on something to do with
horses. Because horses is such a broad topic, I wanted to hone in on a certain
area. I didn’t know what I wanted to specialize in at the time, however. I
later heard about hippotherapy. I looked into it, and I really liked what I had
heard about it. So, I decided to proceed with hippotherapy being my final
senior project topic. My essential question came to be, “What is the most
important benefit a child with special needs receives through equine assisted
therapy?” My three answers that I came upon were, the movement of the horse is
beneficial to the patient, hippotherapy provides relaxation through a
relationship with the horse, and hippotherapy provides postural improvement. Through
a process of elimination, leveling out the pros of each answer, I finally decided
that my final and best answer would be that the movement of the horse is
beneficial to the patient.
3) One
problem that I faced was finding a mentor. Once I decided I wanted to do
hippotherapy as my senior project topic, I really had trouble finding a center
close by. This is because at the moment, hippotherapy is not that popular, and
there are few hippotherapy centers in California .
After searching and searching on the internet for places I could do my
mentorship at, I finally just got lucky and someone I knew knew someone who
worked at a hippotherapy center. After explaining
my senior project and hippotherapy to my aunt, my aunt mentioned that she knew
someone who worked in the field. I was in contact with that person, Melissa Hidden,
right away. Another problem I faced was that I did not receive my data for the
science experiment in time. I resolved this problem by coming up with another
experiment and performing it. It was not
as strong as my initial experiment, but I completed it on time. If I were to
rely on my other experiment and hope the data would come in time, I would have
been sorry. My data would not have come in time.
4) My
first and most important source would have to be my mentor, Cassandra
Sanders-Holly. Cassie is a licensed physical therapist and a professor at USC.
She helped me arrive at two of my answers and would always be open and willing
to help me with whatever I needed. It was really great having her there. I got
more information from her, than I did any other paper article that I read. My
second important source would be the American Hippotherapy Association. I found
several helpful articles from their website. From what hippotherapy is, to who
it is used for, it can all be found from their website. It is also the official
website for hippotherapy.
5) My
product is that I developed a relationship with the patients and children at my
mentorship. I really feel like I connect with many of the patients who I see
during hippotherapy. I also have developed a strong relationship and friendship
with my fellow volunteers, horse handlers, and my mentor. I think the
relationships that have been created have the potential to carry on for many
years. Because I have enjoyed my mentorship so much, I plan on continuing to
volunteer at Leaps and Bounds after the school year.
No comments:
Post a Comment