The Benifits of Equine Therapy

Although the true benefits of equine therapy have not been thoroughly tested, they undoubtedly have the ability to change lives. In an article published in the Oakland Tribune, tells how a boy named Anthony was dying of cancer, and how riding prolonged his life. I personally believe that it is more the fact that he had something to live for and to motivate him that prolonged his life more than the actual riding. But in a person's greatest time of need, anything that helps them get to the next day is worth the world.

Obama's Plan for Americans with Disabilities

Programs like Xenophon help children to gain skills for later life
picture from Xenophon

When Obama took office, he came up with a plan to help people with disabilities. This plan included: "(1) providing Americans with disabilities the educational opportunities they need to succeed; (2) ending discrimination and promoting equal opportunity; and (3) increasing the employment rate of workers with disabilities; and (4) supporting independent, community-based living for Americans with disabilities". I think that if he is able to put all his plans into action, it will be amazing, and also a miracle, considering how slowly our system works. But his plan has some flaws. For instance, Obama's plan supports universal screening. This would it make it possible for all infants to be screened for twenty-nine different disorders. While this would help children get treatment early, it may cause an increase in the number of children put up for adoption, due to them having certain disorders. And if the universal screening allows for prenatal screening, there may be a rise in abortions, because parents may not want to bring a child into the world that is set up to live a more difficult life. This would constitute as discrimination, which is one of the things Obama hopes to end, and if the people who are voting on these proposals for-see these effects, they may not pass the proposal, especially those who are against abortion. From my work at Xenophon Therapeutic Riding Center, I have seen that although many disabled children can learn to live a fairly normal life, it is by no means easy for them. Anything that Obama gets passed to aid those with special needs will be a good step in the right direction.

Xenophon on CBS

Video Library - cbs5.com

Publicity for Xenophon

Xenophon therapeutic riding school in the news. It appears that KTVU does not allow people to embed their videos in blogs.

Mental health Break- Awesome Swing/ferris wheel

from Kludges

Favorite quote from comments: “The parental conundrum: There’s no way I’m letting my kid anywhere near this thing, yet I am longing to get on it myself.”

The Handoprompter!!!

Palin's notes for her speech

It is the hope, that only the brightest are participating in politics. Therefore it would be assumed that they would be capable of remembering three talking points. Alas, Sarah Palin has dashed our hopes (or as she says "our hopey changey thing"). During her appearance at the Tea Party convention in Nashville, she was seen to glance down at notes written on her hand during her speech. These notes consisted of the words "energy", "budget" and "tax". As these are extremely controversial issues for our country, someone who hopes to run for president should not have trouble remembering them, in my opinion. She has been ridiculed by many for this, including Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. My only worry, is that this is another way that Palin is attempting to separate herself from other "high minded" politicians, and appeal to the average person. If that is so, than it is getting scary how low she presumes us to have sunk.

The First Lady's Crusade Against Obesity

Michelle Obama during the healthy kids fair in October, '09

On Tuesday, president Obama signed an executive order to support the "Lets Move Campaign" headed by Michelle Obama. The Campaign encourages physical activity, healthier foods in schools, more accurate and informative food labels and screening for obesity in children at medical checkups. The proposed federal budget would give one billion dollars a year for child nutrition programs and 400 million dollars to help bring fresh produce to all super markets within seven years. This response is unfortunately long overdue, and already seventeen percent are over weight, and nine percent are obese. All these measures will hopefully be very helpful, though their benefits will not be felt for several years at least. I think it finally a good large step in the right direction, though what would be even better, is if they started pushing organics more and not just produce. Part of the obesity epidemic is that it is cheaper for farmers to use pesticides, antibiotics, and hormones to produce food. So the food that is worse for you is less expensive, and as a result, children are being exposed to all these chemicals with disastrous effects. If the food that was better for us was made more available, and cheaper, it would make a world of a difference.

Hippotherapy

A student working with the horse Pooh at Xenophon Therapeutic Riding Center

Hippotherapy (horse riding) is not a therapy that has been proven to be an affective treatment, though it does have benefits. In Bill Ahearn's discussion of treatments for autism, he points out that it has had no controlled demonstrations, and that "Testimonials by a child's caregivers must also be questioned as a valid source of information because of the predisposition of people to rate any treatment as effective no matter the effects it produces." This may be true for autism, but I believe that any opportunity to get a child to socialize and connect with someone, either animal or human, is very beneficial especially for children with autism. In some cases, people with autism find that they can connect with animals better than people. Temple Grandin, a professer of animal science at Colorado state university, who is famous for her work designing more humane livestock slaughter processes. She is also autistic and says that she connects better with animals because "Animals are sensory thinkers, thinking in pictures, smells, sounds. They don’t think in terms of language. I don’t either." Whether animal therapy, including hippotherapy is scientifically proven to be beneficial or not, I believe that animals can connect with us on a level that people can't (though I have no proof), and that their unconditional love is something everyone should experience.