Blog 19: IC2

Literal:
a) I, Clancy Raines, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of
work.
b) Here are the most helpful sites and articles I used, in creating my product.
cerebralpalsy.org - Info on Hippotherapy
American Hippotherapy Association Home Page
Wikipedia (The first place anyone looks)
American Hippotherapy Organization Study
Hippotherapy- Gary Meregillano
c) Done
d) I have created an informational pamphlet to better inform people about Hippotherapy, without going into too much difficult vocabulary.

Interpretive:
  Creating this pamphlet required the use of more popular websites on physical therapy as well as Hippotherapy, in order to understand what is usually presented to the public, regarding the treatment. It also required the strongest foundational sources I had previously included in many sections of my senior project, as well as the organization of the information from said sources.

Applied:
  This component is most relevant to my second answer, which states that Hippotherapy is a largely more appealing alternative to standard physical therapy. This pamphlet would help to illustrate that point, as well as subvert the notion that Hippotherapy is unheard-of or obscure.

Images:

Blog 18: Third Answer

EQ: How can Hippotherapy best help a child with a developmental disorder reach a normal walking pattern?

Answer 3: Hippotherapy can best help a child reach normal walking pattern if it is used in conjunction with standard physical therapy.

Details:
    Firstly, Hippotherapy sessions are irregular, and short. Two thirty-minute sessions per week, is all.

    Hippotherapy's benefits tend to be lost if effort at habilitation ends at the same time the Hippotherapy ends. Continuing therapy is essential for the child to thrive.

    Treating a child with standard physical therapy in conjunction with Hippotherapy has been proven to be effective, shown by multiple cases from Leaps and Bounds.

Source: Mentorship, http://www.archives-pmr.org/article/S0003-9993%2807%2901284-1/fulltext#sec2.2.2

Overall, Hippotherapy does work wonders, but cannot carry a child's development on its own.

Blog 17: Fourth Interview

Interview 4:

1. How important is gait alignment, in helping a child to walk?
2. How does the therapist go about the rehabilitation? Is it one therapist that sticks with a patient, or multiple?
3. What effect does it have on the child if they see a different therapist every time?
4. How do the children generally respond to the horse?
5. How important is it for the kids to have the same horse? How many care?
6. What is the habilitation process usually like, for the kids?
7. How many patients require multiple therapies, like Speech and Physical therapies together?
8. How do the volunteers help, aside from the assigned sidewalking duties?
9. Is it important to have the same volunteers for the kids? Do certain children make friends with the sidewalkers?
10. How do the toys help the different children?
11. How else do the horses themselves help the children, emotionally speaking?
12. How do you keep the children engaged? (Aside from things previously mentioned)
13. What happens when a child cannot keep on-task?
14. What happens when a child reacts badly to the horse?
15. What happens when a horse reacts badly to the child?
16. How do the parents react when their child has to be removed from a session, early?
17. Do some children only attend the riding sessions? How do they fare, compared to children who work in the clinic as well?
18. What is the parent’s general opinion of the ranch, and the work done there?
19. I’ve seen a patient who had an ABA come in place of a sidewalker. How much does Hippotherapy help him, in relation to his outside therapy?
20. What happens when kids don’t continue their therapy at home? Have you seen a case like that?

Blog 16: Second Answer

How can Hippotherapy best help a child with developmental disorders reach a normal walking pattern?

 Hippotherapy helps children reach normal walking patterns by providing a more appealing alternative to other physical therapy methodology. Children generally feel more comfortable, or have more fun, on the horses than with typical equipment. Hippotherapy also includes things such as toys, that the children can play with, unconsciously helping with the process as they do so. Lastly, Hippotherapy staff are helpful and friendly to the children, and help ease them into the process. Hippotherapy's gait realignment process is aided by atmosphere, in keeping the children on task.

Source: Granados, Anabel Corral, and Inmaculada Fernández Agís. "Why Children with Special Needs Feel Better with Hippotherapy Sessions: A Conceptual Review." Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (New York, N.Y.), 17.3 (2011): 191-197.

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

1. I plan to do research and questionnaires with parents and the therapists at Leaps and Bounds, in order to create a pamphlet/information packet explaining Hippotherapy in simplistic terms that anyone can understand.

2. I will keep records of the interviews, and ask for contact information in case I need verification.

3. I will be using this information to see the other side of the process, since all I've been seeing is the therapist/researcher's side of everything.

Blog 14: Independant Component 1

Literal
a) I, Clancy Raines, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
b) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmeFq5cqhTxxdFRmSDJNcmFORzB3X3BtNks4WnhQOHc&usp=drive_web#gid=0
c) Complete
d) A list of statistics based on research in order to better solidify the effectiveness of Hippotherapy.

Interpretive
  In most articles I find, Hippotherapy is mentioned to be "unproven" or has "insufficient data supporting it". Taking this into account, I have compiled a list of statistics from my research and from additional research, showing just how effective it is, in various cases. Because of the nature of Autism, Cerebral Palsy, and other conditions treated by Hippotherapy, there cannot be a guaranteed "Yes, hippotherapy will cure this child".

Applied
  On the whole, this helps my research section of the component a lot, providing me with lots of articles to use.