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About Us

Changing Reins Therapy was founded by two dedicated Occupational Therapists, Emily Grossman, and Rachel Sarshalom. Together, they have over 20 years of experience treating children with various needs and diagnoses, including but not limited to, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cerebral Palsy, Downs Syndrome, Developmental Delays, and

various genetic disorders.

Both Emily and Rachel have a love for horses and believe in the ability of a horse to help with healing. Together, Emily and Rachel, have over 30 years of horsemanship experience.

Changing Reins Therapy allows Emily and Rachel to combine their two passions while utilizing a Hippotherapy approach.

Hippotherapy is defined as combining the movement of a horse with functional therapeutic interventions to improve sensory and/or motor challenges. By using the movement of a horse, we are able to help provide intensive input that is unable to be replicated in a typical therapy setting. We are excited to be able to provide this service to the community at large and help all people live their lives to the fullest.

Our Team

Rachel Sarshalom, MOT, OTR/L is a pediatric occupational therapist born and raised in Miami Beach, Florida. She received her Bachelor of Health Science from the University of Florida in 2005 and her Master’s in Occupational Therapy from the University of Florida in 2006. She is fluent in English and Spanish. She has worked in pediatrics for over 17 years in the acute care hospital setting, working with inpatients and outpatients, led the brachial plexus and hand therapy programs and worked in the private home and school settings across South Florida.

Rachel has acquired many specialties evaluating and treating a myriad of diagnoses such as: delayed infant milestones, hypotonia, prematurity, developmental delay, autism, sensory processing disorders, attention deficit disorder, coordination disorders, fine motor delay, visual motor difficulties, handwriting difficulties, gross motor delay, neurological injuries, orthopedic injuries, and genetic/congenital anomalies. Her certifications include being a Certified Handwriting Specialist, a hand therapy specialist, a therapeutic taping specialist, a Therapeutic Listening Specialist, and a certified Health Coach among other certifications that she holds proudly. She is in the process of becoming a Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor.

Rachel has been involved and riding horses since she was 9 years old, accruing over 30 years of horsemanship. She rode competitively throughout her childhood and as an adult. Currently she competes in hunter/jumper competitions throughout the state and rides for pleasure almost every day. Equestrianism is one of Rachel’s strongest passions in life. In opening Changing Reins and partnering with Emily, she can combine her passions of optimizing the quality of life and independence of her patients with her love of horsemanship.

Rachel is an enthusiastic, dedicated, and dependable therapist who takes pride in educating others, especially her clients and families. She believes that treating the family is just as important as treating the individual child in order to ensure excellent carry over and optimize the success of her clients. Rachel brings an extraordinary knowledge base and deeply diverse experience to Changing Reins to provide exceptional service to her clients and families. When she is not devoting her time to clients and families, Rachel enjoys being a mother of two kids, two horses and two dogs and spending quality time with her two-legged and four-legged family.

Emily Grossman, MS, OTR/L is a pediatric occupational therapist born and raised in Miami Beach, Florida. She received her Bachelor of Science from Florida International University in 2011 and her Master’s in Occupational Therapy from Florida International University in 2014. She is bilingual, in English and Spanish. She has worked in pediatrics for over 8 years in the outpatient and school settings across South Florida.

Emily has attained many specialties evaluating and treating various of diagnoses such as: hypotonia,

developmental delay, autism, sensory processing disorders, attention deficit disorder, coordination disorders, fine motor delay, visual perceptual/motor difficulties, handwriting difficulties, gross motor delay, neurological injuries, and genetic/congenital anomalies. Emily is a Certified Handwriting Specialist, Level I Hippotherapy Certified, and has taken numerous CEU courses on Sensory Processing Disorder, and Autism.

Emily has always had a love for horses and first learned about Hippotherapy the summer before beginning school for Occupational Therapy. She began volunteering and then working at a hippotherapy facility and learning from her mentor, who was the then president of the American Hippotherapy Association. Emily was part of this facility for over 5 years and gained a real love for the ability to use a horse for healing. In opening Changing Reins and partnering with Rachel, she can now continue her passion of using horses to aide in the therapy process. Emily is a dedicated, passionate, and empathetic therapist who takes pride in educating others, especially her clients and families. She shares Rachel’s beliefs in the importance of including the family in the therapy process. Emily brings a unique knowledge

base and years of hippotherapy experience to Changing Reins to provide

exceptional service to her clients and families.

When she is not spending time with her clients and their families, Emily

enjoys being a mother of three, and a pet-mother to a horse, and a dog.

Our Services

• Occupational Therapy utilizing a Hippotherapy approach
• Therapeutic Riding
• Occupational Therapy Evaluations
  
• Occupational Therapy Re-Evaluations
  

Who We Serve

Children with various diagnoses which affect their skills in any areas including but not limited to:

• Muscle tone
  
• Balance responses
  
• Coordination
  
• Sensorimotor function
  
• Postural symmetry and stability
  
• Postural control
  
• Mobility
  
• Limbic system related to arousal and attentional skills
  
• Sensory processing
• Self-care
• Daily Functioning Skills

Contact Us

Telephone: (305) 215-4215 or (305) 962-0016

Fax: (786) 667-3676

Email: Team@ChangingReinsTherapy.com

Located in Southwest Ranches, Florida

Client Forms

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is the benefit of Hippotherapy?
  

The horse’s movement has much to offer the patient and is a powerful tool. The movements are multi-dimensional, and in many ways are similar to human movements. By experiencing the horse’s very organized movement, the patient has plenty of opportunity to practice the ‘right way’ to sequence movement for various tasks. The horse also offers sensory input, particularly proprioceptive, vestibular, tactile and visual, as he moves the patient through space. That multi-channel input, which happens simultaneously with the biomechanical input, helps to regulate an otherwise disordered sensory system.

• Why is it called "hippotherapy"?

“Hippos” was the ancient Greek word for horse. Hippotherapy literally means ‘treatment with the help of a horse’.

• What evidence is available to support hippotherapy?
  

Hippotherapy as a treatment intervention has been used for over 50 years. There are more than 100 articles in peer reviewed publications investigating and explaining the effectiveness of hippotherapy across many patient populations.

• What is the difference between hippotherapy and therapeutic riding?

The goal of hippotherapy is to help the client meet their therapy goals, while using a horse to aide in the process. Alternatively, therapeutic riding is recreational horseback riding lessons adapted to individuals with disabilities.

• Does Changing Reins Therapy accept insurance?

At this time, we are out-of-network with all insurance companies, however, we will be happy to provide a superbill for you to be reimbursed for out-of-network services. We are gardiner providers.