Horse-assisted therapy lowered stress in autistic children
In a study of 72 children ages 6 to 11, 10 weeks of occupational therapy with horses lowered cortisol more than the same therapy in a clinic. It is not a cure.
Read the original
The reporting lives at Colorado State University. Our summary is checked against it, and we link it on every story.
A peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders followed 72 children ages 6 to 11. Ten weeks of occupational therapy that included horses lowered cortisol, a hormone tied to stress, more than the same kind of therapy done in a clinic. Colorado State University reported the work from the Temple Grandin Equine Center at CSU Spur, which already hosts about 11,000 therapy appointments a year.
What the study showed is a lower stress response over those 10 weeks. It did not show a cure for autism, and it did not measure whether the cortisol change lasted after the sessions ended.
More good news
Other stories in the same neighborhood of kindness.
CommunityDenver Health is filling produce prescriptions with free farm food
Denver Health and Re:Vision have given urban-farm produce to 200 families in southwest Denver. The 12-week program is set to add the Westwood Clinic next year.
Verified · 9News
CommunitySteamboat veterans are taking over a couple's Adopt-A-Trail section
Win and Elaine Dermody cleaned a half-mile of Steamboat's Core Trail for eight years. The Veterans Center of Northwest Colorado is taking that section.
Verified · Steamboat Radio
AnimalsA wildlife overpass cut I-25 animal collisions by 91 percent
In the 10 months since the Greenland crossing opened near Castle Rock, drivers hit two animals on a stretch that used to see about one collision a day.
Verified · The Colorado Sun