Evaluation of Socio-emotional Behavior in Children with Autism in Canid-assisted Therapy

Abstract

Animal-assisted therapy in children with autism (AAT) is a complementary therapy, which includes procedures from all other therapies.  AAT is a group of interventions based on an animal's behavioural characteristics (the most common therapy animals being dogs), which, depending on needs, can be included in standard treatments such as behavioural therapy, play therapy, music therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and art therapy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of an existing TAA program on social communication skills, executive functions, and motor skills in children diagnosed with ASD. The study used an observational research design, exploring the frequency of behaviors when dogs are present or absent from an intervention group program. This study involved 16 children, diagnosed with ASD, aged between 7 and 13 years (12 boys and 4 girls) who were recruited from the School Center for Inclusive Education (C.S.E.I.) "LACRIMA" BISTRIȚA. The results obtained by us concluded that Canide-Assisted Therapy, applied under the conditions of our experiment, led to a significant improvement in all behavioral parameters taken in the study. We notice the positive effect, especially on the parameters related to group gaming behavior with a share of 38.7% higher than the control group, Eye Contact with a share of (15.68%) higher than the control group and Social Attention with a share of 28.57% higher than the control group. We also notice a positive effect on the parameters regarding emotional and physical functionality.