Hippotherapy Success Using Virbrating pIllow

I found many useful ways to use this vibrating pillow during a hippotherapy session this week. A two year old girl I will call Daisy has refused (for over a year) to lie supine on the horse. She is gravitationally insecure, meaning that she is abnormally anxious or fearful when experiencing certain head positions or movement.

Daisy happens to love the feeling of this pillow and was willing to lie supine in order to feel it. I turned the pillow off and told her to sit up and then turned it back on when she lay down again. Daisy performed 5 sit-ups in this fashion, all while the horse was walking. She was also stimulated to used the words "on" and "off".

Other children have been motivated to bear weight on the pillow while sitting backwards. I also place it on the mane so that childre can position their hands on it during half seat position. Using a pillow or another visual guide to show where to place the hands during half seat appears to be helpful.

Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L author of, The Recycling Occupational Therapist

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