The use of the treatment technique of hippotherapy as part of a comprehensive plan in Speech Therapy has unique benefits that cannot be replicated by any other piece of therapy equipment. Equine-assisted therapy provides a naturalistic environment to address Speech Therapy goals related to receptive/expressive/pragmatic/social language, oral motor function, speech sound production, auditory processing and feeding. Speech is a dynamic motor act, in which various systems must work together to achieve results . Simply, if a child is trying to "talk," they need a solid foundation in trunk control, sensory processing and respiratory support.  The environment itself is language rich, therefore encouraging spontaneous social language. Goals such as sharing novel information, following directions and imitating speech sounds (among many, many others!) are addressed as the client is traveling through space in a highly motivating, natural environment.

Treatment using the strategy hippotherapy is highly beneficial for a large client base: Autism, Apraxia, Cerebral Palsy, Prader Willi Syndrome, as well other disorders with communication, speech, language and feeding challenges.