Another 50 scholarships for disabled and indigent children. https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/proposals-2010/another-50-scholarships-for-disabled-and-indigent-children-3 https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/@@site-logo/sitelogo-75x75.png

Another 50 scholarships for disabled and indigent children.

Additional Information
Used for	Money will used to provide equine therapeutic scholarships for disabled and indigent children. What kind of therapy regimen will be given will depend on what disability the child has. For example, a child with ADD would be given a therapy program designed to help them learn to focus.
Benefits	By helping disabled children to integrate better within their respective environment. To help children to become schalastically more adept and for these kids to become more productive citizens as a result. All of which will help the world by reduced dysfunction of citizens,reduced cost on the health care system and educational system.
Proposal Description	B.E.A.T. RIDING CENTER, INC. 41919 N.W. WILKESBORO RD. BANKS.OR. 97106 BEAT Riding Center: Scholarships Executive Summary: We are seeking funding to provide free scholarships for 50 more challenged children. This funding request is the second part of our Round Pen Project started in 2006 with the goal to expand our services to accommodate more challenged children in our equine therapeutic program and have them closely monitored to record their growth. The first part of this project was to acquire the necessary funding for the construction of a covered round pen (which would allow for therapy to be performed every day regardless of weather or season and was built especially to accommodate the specific needs of disabled children) at our facility in Banks. In 2007 we accomplished this goal through funding provided by the following foundations, all of them are local except the Thoroughbred Charities of America: • The Juan Young Trust, • Braemer Charitable Trust, • The Fred Meyer Foundation • Robert D.& Marcia H. Randall Charitable Trust • Thoroughbred Charities of America • The Karen M. Schroth Foundation for Animals Total cost for Phase I of this project was: $34,000 for materials and labor. (See budget narrative for break down of costs.) The round pen is now complete and we are working on completing Phase II of this project, to bring the amount of children being helped each week to capacity (over 100). The round pen is used exclusively for disabled children and allows us to nearly double the number of children we had been able to serve on a weekly basis. Prior to the round pen we’d only been serving around 55-60 each week but are capable of serving over 100 now that the project is complete hence we are trying to aggressively reach this goal. That brings us to Phase II of this project which is our scholarship program and the need to boost our scholarship quota. For each child we sponsor it costs us $850 out of pocket. To provide these scholarships and bring our program to capacity, it will cost $42,500. Equine riding has been proven to be an effective therapeutic tool. Hippo therapy (also known as equine therapy) reaches many learning areas through its therapeutic modality for children with moderate to severe disabilities. Riding a horse and or working with one, even doing grooming or leading, effectively provides many sensory and psychological benefits to the child unmatched by other modalities. Special ed. children learn by engaging in simple exercises that increase the child’s self esteem, confidence, efficacy, socialization, communication, dexterity, autonomy and a host of other skills. Engaging in these activities also provide a venue for improving musculature abilities and development, heightened communication skills, socialization skills and overall improved cognitive learning behavior. Children from (the Portland/Beaverton/Hillsboro/Forrest Grove) school districts special education departments that have developmental challenges and attention disorders each have come to participate in our equine therapy. They leave the program more focused, able to take direction from adults, improved responses to instruction from their teachers and the ability to interact better with their peers. These cognitive and behavioral differences make the children better suited to adapting to their respective communities and environments. Once the project is fully complete even more challenged children will glean the benefit of this expansion. The BEAT Riding center works with Special Ed. teachers like Regina Kawsaki (at Beaverton) who see the difference. The Special Education Department of the Portland School District has the support of their Special Ed. Assistant Director Sally Charuhas because she, like Kawsaki, knows how effective BEAT’s program is in reaching these children. The mutual goal of the school districts and BEAT merge to improve the lives of the children we serve with our program. The Leslie Ehmann Foundation is focused on helping and providing programs that really help children. And BEAT is just such a program. SOME of the Schools That Beat Equine Therapy Benefit: School Abernathy Ainsworth Alameda Arleta Astor Atkinson Boise-Ellot Bridger Beaver Acres Five Oaks Capitol Hill Chapman Chief Joseph Clark Com. School Creston Duniway Faubion Forest Park Glencoe Grout Hollyrood Humbolt Irvington James John Kelly Laurelhurst Lee Lent Lewis Llewellyn Maplewood Markham Marysville Peninsula Richmond Rieke Rigler Sabin Sacajawea Scott Sitton Skyline Stephenson Vestal Whitman Winterhaven Woodlawn Woodstock Woodmere Bridemile Buckman Aloha H.S. Tom McCall Neil Armstrong Forest Grove H.S. Evidence and Innovation: The public school system is continuously being inundated with special needs children whose special needs require many changes to be made within the public educational system to accommodate them. Their needs range from developmental disabilities, cognitive impediments to making physical accommodations for their individuals with challenges. Autism is at the forefront of the developmental disabilities. It is a well known fact that Autism is showing up in 1 out of every 146 children born in the United States , which translates to more than a 50 % growth among autistic school age children in the school system over the past five years! Similarly, attention deficit disorders like A.D.D. and A.D.H.D. has become epidemic. As many as a third of some of our classrooms are comprised of children that have one or more of these disorders. As such, those statistics make it mandatory that the public school system find a way to deal with these children in an effective way. Equine therapy is an effective treatment modality and successful in closing fundamental gaps between children with developmental, emotional, and physical disabilities. It has been providing remarkable results since its inception within the therapeutic vocational field of the 60’s. It quickly became a therapeutic form of treatment for learning disorders, anxiety disorders, physical disabilities and most recently PTSD and antiviolence behaviors. Each year, more groups helping the disabled discover the effectiveness of equine therapy. In turn more uses for equine therapy are being discovered. Many public district schools across the nation have been partnering with equine therapy facilities for over two decades now because of the documented results and manner in which the therapy has successfully helped their special needs children. Equine therapy is able to reach even the most severely disabled children in a way that no other form of therapy can equal. Part of what makes this therapy so successful is that horses mirror the demeanor of the person they are with. This is because the horse, by nature is a prey animal that is always conscientious of predators and is therefore always seeking safety and peace. It is the nature of the horse to provide a sense of peacefulness and safety. Combine this with the rhythmic motion of a horse and it produces a calming effect on the children it helps, allowing them to focus on the movement of the animal which is intentionally slow, and deliberate, resulting in a relaxing effect. Thereby children learn how to focus better, are less anxious and become more comfortable in their environment. As an example of this we observed first hand the dramatic differences in a cerebral palsy boy named Bradley who had equine therapy. He was the inspiration for starting B.E.A.T. Because after only a few weeks of equine therapy, Bradley began to blossom cognitively, physically and emotionally, his success made an indelible impression on Phyllis Herinckx who is the Executive Director for BEAT. In fact Herinickx and her daughter Jackie were so impressed that they knew they had to do something to help more children just as Bradley had been helped. Another example has been the extraordinary improvements made by autistic children, witnessed by BEAT staff. These improvements reverberate within the classroom as well, and their progress is reflected in the improved way in which children interact with their peers and adhere to instruction from their teachers. Children in BEAT’s program learn a variety of skills through group activities (such as school field trips) and individual lessons. They learn how to work and play with peers and respond better to adults and the instruction from those adults. They learn conflict resolution and how to help others. Often children subject to angry emotional outbursts will suddenly transform into a calmer child, as do repressed children that are quiescent and rarely smile, will suddenly begin smiling and start to blossom socially. Children who otherwise would isolate themselves have become more open as a result of equine assisted therapy. What transpires is like a therapeutic domino effect, first the child begins to make eye contact with the animal and then soon afterwards, will mimic this behavior with people . * 2 Franklin Levinson’s Equine Facilitated Learning. Equine therapy has produced positive efficacy results in treating children with a host of psychological and learning disorders, including: depression, anxiety, attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorders, conduct disorders, and other chronic mental and developmental disorders. On the flip side, it has produced positive results in building confidence, self-efficacy, self esteem, communication, trust, anxiety reduction, assertiveness, decreased isolation, self acceptance, social skills, boundaries and creative freedom. It has equally been as effective in improving physical abilities for challenged children that have cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and other physical illnesses. The program activities promote strength, improved gait, muscle tone, balance, coordination, flexibility, heightened sensory responses and stamina. The program of the BEAT Riding Center impacts children within the community greatly. The ways in which the children who participate are transformed is nothing short of remarkable. Children glean improved skills on all levels of physical ability and skills socially and psychologically that make them better equipped to handle the day to day stressors of their environment. The therapy also helps them to interact better with their peers, to help themselves and others which in turn make them able to integrate better within their respective communities. And because children who have attended equine therapy come away with better communication skills, they can better express their needs and communicate with their peers and teachers more adeptly afterwards. In turn, teachers whose students have interacted with BEAT have attested to the remarkable transformations they witnessed with their children. They see the difference in the physical strength, stamina, muscle tone and ROM (range of motion), gait, attention and direction to instruction. These attributes and changes are fundamental to the community outreach program and is at the very heart of helping those most in need to get the critical care they warrant. Providing this venue for these children can only be a positive forum which makes the need for this program imperative. Their therapy is an effective tool that continues to be recognized daily just how much it affects the children and the communities they serve. Actions to be Taken: The first part of this project to have a covered round pen was completed in the spring 2007. Actual construction began and was completed in March. Total time for construction was less than a month and the new facility is already in place. Phase II of this project is the focus of this proposal and centers on the expansion of the BEAT Riding Center which translates into many, many more hours being logged for each child we help. We work studiously with these children each week to maximize the benefits of their therapy. This expansion means more children being sponsored and it means monitoring and evaluating that progress with medical professionals, teachers and the child’s caregivers. Most of our therapeutic regimens are designed with a one year timeline in mind. Therapeutic sessions generally run a year and we find that the best results are produced when children follow the complete course of therapy which involves weekly visits. We assess the child as they are entering our program and continue to monitor them throughout the duration of their therapy. This is where their doctors/caregivers roles will be key, to chart their progress and intervene if there are problems impeding growth. Our instructors and the child’s health care professionals look for specific cues to indicate that the child is responding to therapy. For instance, for A.D.D. or A.D.H.D. children, the emphasis is on focus, concentration and acquiring a calm that will allow the child to excel within their classroom environment. For autistic children, the focus is primarily on communication. For children with a low IQ and low cognitive responses, sometimes even the most rudimentary exercises and activities produce wonderful results. In addition, for children that are quiet and withdrawn, we look for them to blossom under the direction of our program. Even children with behavior problems like anxiety or anger issues, we have found that the equine therapy works as a buffer between their school and medical liaisons with the end result being that the child is calmer and more manageable. And by having doctors/teachers involved, the child receives tantamount help. Unlike more mainstream and traditional modalities of therapy, equine applied principles reach children in ways that other programs are incapable of mastering. The goal for the children that will be coming to the center as a result of this expansion is the same that has been applied towards the care and treatment of the kids that have already been a part of BEAT’s program to date, specifically, to aid them on all levels of function from psychological to physiological. What each child’s needs have traditionally been determined by doctors and other qualified caregivers such as their teachers and parents. For many of these children, fundamental stretching exercises can produce excellent results and are big accomplishments for a child that struggles to tie even a shoe lace. Muscles that had been dormant are awakened through the activities and exercises of the program and consequently help them considerably. For others, walking such a big animal like a horse, will glean the benefit of increased confidence, self esteem, efficacy and autonomy. These are skills that are taught and reverberate in all special education classes taught throughout Beaverton/Portland school districts. They do this through riding exercises, through stretching exercises, through grooming exercises and leading exercises that when combined together produce excellent therapeutic results in the child’s behavior and temperament. The benefits of equine therapy are so positive that they continue to grow and expand to other factions of society in need, such as veterans who experience PTSD, eating disorder patients and women that are victims of domestic abuse. Some of the most widely recognized benefits of equine therapeutic riding include: What Equine Riding encourages : • Cognitive Activity • Sensory Integration • Correct Muscle Tone • Gross & Fine Motor Skills • Increased Physical Stamina • Proper Posture • Independence & Social Skills • Emotional Stability • Self Esteem • Vocalization • Smiles Responsibilities: At the helm of implementing Phase II of BEAT’s Round Pen project is (Executive Director), Phyllis Herinckx. who started BEAT with her daughter, Jackie Hopper over a decade ago. As a former elementary teacher herself, she knows very well the importance of education and in helping children to receive the help and tools they need to thrive. She taught for over 20 years in the Beaverton school district before becoming involved with BEAT, so she has been in the “thick” of it for a lot of years and knows what it takes to effect positive therapy in children. She is also NARHA (North American Riding for the Handicapped Association) certified, a 4-H leader, former member of the OEA and a current Oregon Equestrian Trails leader. She has been instructing and helping disabled children at the center for over 12 years through hippo therapy (hippo therapy is the clinical physical therapy and occupational therapy of using a horse as the modality and is administered by an independent instructor and or independent physical therapist). She has been a therapeutic instructor and has pitched in for virtually all of the instructors when they were ill or absent. She knows that the best therapeutic programs utilize different types and sizes of horses to produce the best results of varied ways of movement and therefore employ ponies to thoroughbreds in the program. BEAT has an excellent working relationship with many teachers/schools. And they work closely with the Beaverton/Portland/Aloha/Hillsboro/Forest Grove/Banks school district special education departments. Similarly, by these school districts and BEAT working collectively, they provide an excellent therapeutic forum for their students, through field trips and teacher/school administrator referrals for hippo therapy. BEAT has four full time instructors right now. As the expansion continues they plan on hiring one more to keep up with the growth of the program. Children that have behavior problems and or disorders comprise over 65% of their disabled clients. Staff: Instructor Years of Exper. NARHA Certified Specialty Jackie Hopper 15 Yes Dressage/challenged children Jennifer Bennett 15 Yes Dressage/challenged children Sarah Hudson 7 No/but has taken therapeutic classes Dressage Andrea Supalla 4 Yes Working with younger children, helping them to learn the basics. Since this project first began in 2006 (Phase I), enthusiasm and an eagerness to see its fruition has been building within the community served by BEAT. Our clientele and their constituents are aware of this expansion as are the foundations we have solicited and those who have supported this project. Even those foundations who didn’t or couldn’t give (stating they’d funded similar projects, funding was expended for the fiscal year) have also been encouraging. And certainly liaisons from the Beaverton/Portland/Hillsboro/Forrest Grove schools that we serve are anxious to be able to share in this expansion with their kids since so many students have benefited from BEAT before. Board: Our Board: We Have a five member board that is as dedicated to the B.E.A.T. program as the original founders. Charlene Bechen – Secretary – 42370 NW Lookover Dr., Banks, OR 97106, Ph: 503/324-1710 Rhondi Tuchscherer – President – 16690 SW Highhill Ln., Aloha, OR 97007, Ph: 503/590-2840 Wendy Wilson – Treasurer- 19640 SW Trelene St., Aloha, OR 97007, Ph: 503/649-3803 Dawn Glass – Board Member – 1392 NE Oleander Ln., Hillsboro, OR 97124 Robin B. Fabrao-Rosebalm – Board Member- 4130 SW 117th Ave., Beaverton, OR 97005 Outcomes & Impact: Therapeutic riding has been proven to be an effective therapy modality. Equine therapy by the simple and basic procedure of riding on a horse has produced numerous verifiable benefits. The sensory input and cognitive awareness and improvements give credence to this form of therapy. The increased dexterity and motor control of students who participate as well as improved social skills and self esteem are all building block tools used in the public school system with their educational processes and techniques to reach, communicate and edify their students. In this paradigm of therapy, only the modality is significantly different than the principles applied within the public school educational system. However, it should be noted that the fundamental goals remain the same and tantamount: specifically to reach out to the communities’ children that the school districts serve in any way possible to improve the child’s quality of education with the intent to help them to be inclusive within their respective communities. This goal of integrating within the community is adjunct to the intent of producing productive citizens. Progress of the kids that participate in BEAT’s equine therapy will be observed by their instructors, the executive director, their teachers, parents and the health care professionals involved in their day to day care. As with students that we have been assisting for over twelve years now, we work closely with the key people in the challenged child’s life. The improvements made during the course of therapy are documented clinically but are especially apparent to all those involved with their care how dramatically different the child is afterwards as opposed to how they were when first enrolling in the program. It is not at all uncommon to see nonverbal children begin to talk, wheelchair bound kids with disabilities like cerebral palsy and musculature dystrophy learn to walk better, and ADD and ADHD children learn a calm and focus they had never experienced before. What can be a greater impact on a child’s life than learning to communicate with the world around them? By BEAT’s involvement with the area’s special ed. departments and teachers, many children within the community are greatly impacted by our therapy. This is as a result of both forces working together for the benefit of the child and the greater good. Through our program, students are exposed to a variety of sensory interactions by the riding and adjunct activities of leading a horse and or grooming it. When students learn to command the attention of a large animal it has produced positive results of self confidence, self empowerment, self esteem and autonomy. Social skills are gleaned through the experience of riding the horse, interacting with their peers and the instructor. An offshoot of this benefit is the improvement of children to follow instruction and the direction of the adult(s) doing the training. This is especially true for children with attention deficit disorders. Perhaps some of the most critical evidence of equine therapy is the re-emergence of trust that children experience from their partnership with the horse. Study after study reveals the ability of equine therapy to bring speech into the world of non-verbal clients, emotionally challenged children learning trust and disabled riders graduating to being able to walk. Horses have been used continuously this century in physical therapy, especially for people who were once paralyzed, injured or born with congenital physical disabilities. Table Summarizing Evidence of therapy and who performed it: Reference Study Design/ Data Collection Level of Evidence Sample Size Intervention Summary of Results Engel, B. T. (1984) Literature Review IV 15 References Use of a horse as a therapeutic activity in the treatment of patients with physical disabilities. Improvement in midline stability, mobility of limbs, relaxation, and stimulated motivation and communication. Glazer, H. R., Clark, M. D., & Stein, D. S. (2004) Cohort Study III 5 participants, ages 4 to 14, mourning the death of a family member. Participant in the Evergreen support group 6-week participation in a hippotherapy program. A closing circle at the end of each session for children’s feedback, and parent/ guardian observations. A volunteer associated with each child reflected on the child’s progress after each session. Increased self-confidence, trust, self- esteem and communication skills, which transferred to home environments. MacKinnon, J. R., Noh, S., Laliberte, D., Allan, D. E., & Lariviere, J. (1995) Literature Review IV 30 References; 11 data-based studies Review the physical and psychosocial benefits of therapeutic horseback riding. Psychosocial Benefits: attention span, concentration, listening skills, self-confidence, self-concept, self-esteem, motivation, etc. Physical Benefits: balance, postural control, relaxation, strength, range of motion, body awareness and visual perception, coordination, etc. Splinter-Watkins, K. L. & Calhoun, S. C. (1999) Literature Review IV 12 References Therapeutic riding provides equine-oriented activities, promotes therapy, education, leisure, recreation and sports activities. Improvements were seen in sensorimotor, psychosocial, and cognitive areas, as well as increased attending abilities of children with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Social integration opportunities were also present. Lehrman, J., & Ross, D. B. (2001) Case Study III 1 female, age 10, with visual impairment and multiple disabilities 10 weeks of hippotherapy Increase in making verbal sounds, ability to stand independently, walk up a ramp with a handrail, rotate in a sitting position independently and began utilizing vision. Also, visual attention span and fixation time increased with signs of increased verbal communication. MacKinnon, J. R., Noh, S, Lariviere, J., MacPhail, A., Allan, D. E. & Laliberte, D. (1995) Randomized Controlled Trial II 19 participants, ages 4-12 yrs, with spastic type cerebral palsy. Must be able to sit independently for 2min. 6 month therapeutic horseback riding program to develop functional riding skills, knowledge of horses and stable, and skill at games on horseback. Pretests and posttests to assess improvements in physical and psychosocial abilities. Each child showed improvements in physical and psychosocial abilities. Most frequent progress areas were in attention span, social interaction, confidence, trunk control, posture, pelvic mobility and hand control. The benefits of BEAT’s equine therapeutic program continue to grow as do the schools we serve, the teachers involved and the children aided within our community. We fully expect that this round pen project once Phase II is completed, that more area schools will have an opportunity to participate and will greatly benefit the special needs children they serve and the community that they are a part of. In addition, 50 more challenged children will benefit from this expansion! Next year, we hope to maintain that number and allow another 50 to be helped. This project will be maintained through grants, fundraisers and public donations. Just as we have diligently worked to get the round pen built, we believe we can count on the community to support us as they have for the last 12 years. What will This Cost? Project Budget The budget for the Round Pen Initiative was: $76,500 for materials, construction, and scholarships. The budget below outlines the cost of the materials that were used and the labor costs involved in Phase I of this project that is now complete. Round Pen Project Costs, Phase I: 50’ x 50’ Round Pen Materials Materials: $24,000 Labor: $10,000 6 x 6 Pressure treated 12/18, 2/22, 2/26 2 x 12 #2tbt 10/20 2 x 6 #2tbt 30/20, 48/14 2 x 8 pt 5/20, 8/14 2 x 6 #2lbt T &G Pressure treated 20/10, 16/14 2 x 4 #std & bt. 32/20, 32/10, 64/12, 10/16 2 x 6 #2tbt 2/20,2/10, 8/12, 4/14 2 x 8 #2tbt 8/14 Val Rile III, Painted Metal 36/14, 36/16 34/14, 4/16. 4/17, 4/18, 4/19, 4/20, 4/21, 4/22 Rd Barn Door Track 2/20, 4/14 4 pr Rd Track roller 10 pc track cover 6 pc outside corner 12 pc C casing 6 pc ridge cap 12 pc gable torn 6500 1” wood fast screws 2 gables 50’ span 4/12 p 20 OH Horiz shtg 9 Trusses 50’ span 4/12 p 20 OH 5/0 o/c setting Materials & labor = $34,000 Phase II of the Round Pen Project will be $42,500 for providing crucial scholarships to 50 more challenged children. Direction of the staff will also involve watching and reporting the progress of all additional children that will be participating in the equine therapy after the completion of this project. They will be tracking the care and growth of 50 more children that will bring our total to 100. Materials & labor Construction $34,000 Scholarships 50 more $42,500 Total: $76,500 ** Separate campaign. References: Federal Health Authorities Consensus, 2007 reports Engel, B. T. (1984). The horse as a modality for occupational therapy. Occupational Therapy in Health Care, 1, 41-47. Franklin Levinson’s Equine Facilitated Learning,2005. Efficacy of Equine Therapy, January 2006, South Florida Veterans Lehrman, J., & Ross, D. B. (2001). Therapeutic riding for a student with multiple disabilities and visual impairment: A case study. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 95, p108, 2p. Retrieved November 30, 2004, from the PsycInfo database. MacKinnon, J. R., Noh, S., Laliberte, D., Lariviere, J., & Allan, D. E. (1995). Forward Stride Therapeutic Riding Center 2006 Newsletter Therapeutic horseback riding: A review of the literature. Physical & Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics, 15, 1, 1-15. Retrieved November 8, 2004, from the OT Search database. MacKinnon, J. R., Noh, S., Lariviere, J., MacPhail, A., Allan, D. E., & Laliberte D (1995). A study of therapeutic effects of horseback riding for children with cerebral palsy. Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics, 15, 1, 17-34. Retrieved November 30, 2004, from the CINAHL database. North American Riding for the Handicapped Association, Inc. (2004). Joanne Gamache’s Equine-Assisted therapy’s Affect on Social Skills and Attention among School age Children, University of Puget sound. Splinter-Watkins, K. L., & Calhoun, S. C. (1999). Benefits of therapeutic horseback riding: An effective occupational therapy intervention for persons with developmental disabilities. Developmental Disabilities Special Interest Section Quarterly, 22, 1-3. Retrieved November 30, 2004, from the AOTA database. Newsday.com, November 2007, Long Island Schools Challenged by autism’s Growth. Equine Assisted Psychotherapy, E. Gordon & Associates, Educational Consultant, “Finding the Right School…” * Based on information supplied by the liaisons/teachers from the schools listed in this proposal.