Motivational Change over the Course of Hippotherapy: An Exploratory Study of Three Children with Autism

This article describes the findings from a research study looking at the motivational pathways of children with autism while participating in a 16‐week hippotherapy intervention. The Pediatric Volitional Questionnaire (PVQ) was used to document quantitative data for the changes in motivation that each child experienced, and videotaping was used for qualitative information. The study found that the motivation of children with autism will take highly individual pathways over time, and will be dependent on environmental factors.