I’m in my first year of grad school to become an SLP and I was wondering if there are any of you out there who do hippotherapy. I’m in a pretty non-horsey area and, while there are a couple of TR barns, none of them employ SLP’s so I’m hoping the power of COTH can provide me build my knowledge base. I’d just like some more information about how it all works. I’m still in the beginning stages of information gathering, but if I could combine horses and my chosen career I would officially be in heaven. Thanks!
I have my undergrad in sppa and worked in the schools for ten years many :eek: years ago. I can certainly see how hippotherapy would help kids with speech or language problems.
Just off the top of my head:
following directions
artic (esp “s” and “r”)
receptive and expressive language
written language
attention span
vocabulary
I went to James Madison University and from your description of a non-horsey area, I don’t think it is JMU!
Carol
The current president of the American Hippotherapy Association (AHA) is an SLP. We have an SLP working at our center providing hippotherapy and therapeutic riding. The courses provided by AHA can teach you how the movement of the horse impacts the speech production mechanisms. In addition, there is a Find A Therpist on the AHA website and you might be able to connect with a local SLP or reach out to the regional or state liaison to find someone in your area. Hope that helps.
