| Research Objective: In recent decades,the incidence of autism has shown a rapid upward trend.The prevalence of autism in China is 0.7%,and there are now over 10 million people with autism spectrum disorders in the country,with over 2 million of them being children under the age of 12.This has brought enormous pressure on society,as well as causing psychological and economic pressure on their families,and has attracted widespread attention from society.Social communication deficits are one of the core symptoms of autism in children.As the child grows older,if not intervened in a timely manner,it will be difficult for them to integrate into the larger social community under complex social environments.With the changing attitude towards children with autism in society,more and more parents are choosing to enroll their children in various sports programs to help them integrate into society.This paper provides a reference for improving the social communication abilities of children with autism by studying the impact of equestrian sports on social skills.Research Methods: This study employed literature review,expert interviews,mathematical statistics,and experiments.Thirty mildly autistic children were selected using the CARS scale at a rehabilitation institution in Jinan,with 15 in the experimental group and 15 in the control group.Through a review of relevant literature,consultations with autism rehabilitation therapists,special education teachers,and professional equestrian coaches,and close contact with autistic children,corresponding equestrian intervention programs were developed based on their characteristics.The experimental group underwent 16 weeks of targeted equestrian training,with three sessions per week,while the control group received only traditional physical activity rehabilitation courses during the same period.The SPSS 26.0 data processing software was used for data analysis.The paired sample T-test was used to analyze differences within each group before the experiment,and the independent sample T-test was used to analyze differences between groups before and after the experiment.Research results: 1.After 16 weeks of equine-assisted activities,the experimental group showed significant changes in social perception before and after the intervention(P<0.01),while the control group showed no significant changes(P>0.05).2.After 16 weeks of equine-assisted activities,the experimental group showed significant changes in social cognition before and after the intervention(P < 0.01),while the control group showed no significant changes(P>0.05).3.After 16 weeks of equine-assisted activities,the experimental group showed significant changes in social motivation before and after the intervention(P<0.01),while the control group showed no significant changes(P>0.05).4.After 16 weeks of equine-assisted activities,the experimental group showed significant changes in behavior patterns before and after the intervention(P<0.05),while the control group showed no significant changes(P>0.05).5.After 16 weeks of equine-assisted activities,the experimental group showed significant changes in social communication before and after the intervention(P<0.01),while the control group showed no significant changes(P>0.05).Therefore,this study concludes that equine-assisted activities have a significant positive impact on the social interaction abilities of children with autism.Research findings: Firstly,equine-assisted activities have a positive impact on children with autism,leading to significant improvements in their emotions and social interaction abilities.After a 16-week intervention,it was observed that equine-assisted activities resulted in a reduction in negative emotions and an increase in positive emotions for children with autism.Additionally,the experimental group outperformed the control group in terms of social interaction ability assessment scores.Secondly,during the intervention using equine-assisted activities,it was found that the effects on different dimensions of the Social Responsiveness Scale(SRS)varied.This suggests that equineassisted activities have varying degrees of influence on different aspects of social interaction ability,including social cognition,social communication,social motivation,and social awareness.Lastly,the follow-up evaluation conducted four weeks after the intervention ended showed that the social interaction ability of the experimental group remained consistent with the post-intervention assessment.This indicates that the improvements in social interaction ability achieved through equine-assisted activities were stable and persisted over time... |
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