Unbridling Barriers to Communication: Saddling Mand Teaching and Equine Therapy for Autistic Children

Abstract Equine-assisted learning (EAL) is a therapeutic approach involving ground-based activities with horses for personal and professional development. Manding (requesting) is a critical communication skill for autistic children that may be strengthened through naturalistic EAL contexts. This study evaluated the effects of an interrupted chain procedure for teaching manding skills within an EAL context using a single-case multiple-baseline design across five culturally diverse autistic children (ages 4–13 years) who provided assent to participate. The interrupted chain procedure involved systematically removing required items from a horse-dressing activity, creating motivating operations for participants to request missing materials. Effects were evaluated using visual analysis, the conservative dual criterion method, and between-case standardized mean difference (BC-SMD). A functional relation between the interrupted chain procedure and increased independent manding was demonstrated across all participants (BC-SMD = 1.64, 95% CI 0.46, 2.82). Four of five participants achieved mastery criteria (6/6 independent mands), with skills maintaining at 3-week follow-up and generalizing to novel stimulus conditions. Findings support the effectiveness of combining interrupted chain procedures with EAL contexts for teaching functional communication skills to culturally diverse autistic children, suggesting potential for naturalistic behavioral interventions in therapeutic settings.