Under Construction - MHWA Retreat

Cinn, Thank you for a wealth of information that I think I can actually follow!

I can only imagine the frustration with the painfully slow evolution of your problem statement (especially with the unhelpful input from your committee member)!

I have two texts about writing this thesis, but the words just keep coming and my eyes blur pretty quickly as I try to digest it enough to get this project going!

I am in a Master's program in Art Therapy. I am doing my internship at a therapeutic riding center with an art therapist. My internship is specifically with art therapy(we are in the same building, but we are not doing art with, or on, the horses!), however, a large percentage of the clients receive both services.
Most of the clients are children, and most are on the autism spectrum.

I would like to incorporate the use of therapeutic riding and art therapy as complementary therapies for children with Autism into the topic of my thesis.

I am able to do research there, so this semester my assignment is to come up with a proposal, and complete an application to the institutional review board of my school.

So, how do I start the literature review?
I have searched recent articles on therapeutic riding and autism (50 some results in the data base) and have begun to sort through them. Do I read every article and take notes on what their results show? From those do I narrow down to the 15 or so?

Then do I do the same thing with art therapy and autism? Another 15 or so pieces of literature?

realistically, how much time do you spend on this phase? in hours.

What I think I am reading in the text is: look for some problem, an absence of research on a problem this population has... Likely after reviewing the two types of literature, I may see some areas of intersecting benefits to children with Autism, but I am looking to formulate a proposal relating the use of both....

Am I making any sense?
Thank you, again, for responding, you have already been helpful!
Deb