Introducing ASTride: An equine-assisted occupational therapy intervention for children with ADHD

Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are often referred to equine-assisted services (EAS) for therapy, despite the lack of validated protocols in the field. This chapter focuses on presenting ADHD skills therapy (ASTride), an equine-assisted occupational therapy (EAOT) intervention protocol designed for children aged 6-12 with ADHD, and its validation. ASTride aims to address deficits in cognitive-emotional functions and participation, as those deficits are highly prevalent among children with ADHD. The protocol is based on three main occupational therapy (OT) models: (1) sensory integration (SI), which refers to the capacity to regulate and organize the degree, intensity, and nature of an individual's responses to sensory input in a graded and adaptive manner during the intervention; (2) cognitive orientation to daily occupation (CO-OP); and (3) multi-context approach which refers to strategy and skill acquisition in meaningful activities using guided discovery and promoting generalization. ASTride includes 12 weekly structured sessions of 45 minutes each and involves both mounted and unmounted activities in the stables surrounding. It follows 12 guidelines for a successful intervention that will be elaborated. A pilot study validating the protocol is also presented, along with future directions and implications.