Animal Assisted Therapy

Using Interactions with Dogs to Increase Social and Communication Skills in Children with Autism
Stefanie Baldovin
Caldwell College

ABA 573
Date: November 13, 2012
Draft # 2

Effects of Interactions with Dogs to Increase Social and Communication Skills in Children with Autism

The use of service dogs for children with ASD is a relatively new field. Dogs have provided animal assisted therapy (AAT) in conjunction with psychotherapy with positive outcomes for many years (Beck & Katcher, 2003). Animal therapy dates back to the late 18th century in England where the Society of Friends established York Retreat in the 1790’s as an alternative to the asylums of the day. Animals were used to help
The sessions were videotaped and were coded. Examples of behaviors measured were: giving treats to the dog, looking at the therapist, touching the dog, etc. Examples of verbalizations measured were talking about the dog, responding to questions, talking about themselves, etc. When the children were engaged in social behaviors, they made eye contact with the therapist, and displayed a more playful mood (indicated by laughing and giving treats) when in the presence of a therapy dog. Children also talked to or about the dog when in the presence of the dog. The children kept their gaze focused on the dog instead of the ball or the stuffed dog. Findings of this study suggest that Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) may be beneficial for children with ASD to improve behavior and verbal interactions, especially communication between the therapist and the child. Limitations of the study were that it lacked a scientific protocol with clear definitions of the goals of the research, proper instruments of measurement and documentation, minimized extraneous variables and a small sample size. The association between the presence or the arrival of pets in families with children with autism and the changes in social behaviors was studied in France by Grandgeorge, Tordjman, Lazartigues, Lemonnier, Deleau, and Hausberger (2012). Grandgeorge and her team compared three scenarios: if the child never owned a pet, if the child owned a pet since birth (i.e. pet has been part of the
The four participants have functional expressive and receptive verbal skills. The parents of the children who took part in this study gave written consent, including permission to videotape the children and use photos in publications.

Canine Visitor/Handler Teams

Two certified therapy dogs and handlers were recruited from a local Animal-Assisted Activities group. The dogs have passed temperament testing and are up to date on all immunizations. “Happy” is a 5 year-old female Labrador retriever. She is a certified therapy dog and has been used to help patients and clients work towards and achieve specific goals in physical, occupational, and speech therapy. “Buster” is six year-old German Shepard. He is also a certified therapy dog and has been used to help patients and clients with panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression.

Instruments

Data collection was in the following forms: (1) direct observation; (2) parent perceptions of behavior as measured by the Social Responsiveness Scale, (3) special education record review, and (4) demographic data collected from parents.

Locations

The study was conducted in the participant’s home, in a designated classroom at the Alpine Learning Center and at public