Occupational Therapy

What is Occupational Therapy?

Occupational therapy supports individuals across the lifespan by building relationships that promote learning, growth, and gaining of skills that strengthen their daily success. Individual treatment plans are tailored to support goals that enable people to live their fullest potential with joy, hope, purpose, and confidence.

What is Equine Assisted Occupational Therapy (EA-OT)?

Equine assisted occupational therapy utilizes the equine environment to facilitate meaningful activities that help people do the things they need and want to do. EA-OT uses the movement of the horse, as well as the unique horse-to-human connection to improve social-emotional, cognitive, neuromuscular and motor skills. Stable Steps serves a variety of children who face challenges that might arise with conditions such as ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, anxiety and depression, cerebral palsy, genetic disorders, intellectual disabilities, Sensory Processing Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury and more.

Pedro, Mary Jane and Florence

Benefits of Equine Assisted OT

  • Improve social skills

  • Emotional regulation

  • Increase self-confidence

  • Regulate sensory system

  • Build trunk strength, balance and tone

  • Enhance gross and fine motor coordination and planning

  • Improve problem solving, sequencing and organization

  • Learn and implement coping strategies

  • Decrease anxiety, impulsivity, frustration

“There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man”

— Winston Churchill