Guinea Pig Psychology

The Pigman, by Paul Zindel, is a recount of preceding circumstances narrated by John Conlan and Lorraine Jensen, who are two sophomores at Franklin High School. Recently, their unanticipated friend Mr. Pignati has died, and they are attempting to tell the story of how they met him, and what happened after. When Lorraine and John first met they were on the bus, and they had become friends by default. John and Lorraine were both outcasts, and did not tend to fit in with a certain group of people. Lorraine had lots of anxiety about everything she did. Part of this anxiety may have stemmed from her mother, as her mother had an extreme distrust in men. John however, seemed to not care what anyone felt about him. His parents seem to not trust him,

Socially, children with autism have a lot of difficulty with peers as they do not express as much empathy or social involvement as their classmates. Baron-Cohen (2002) refers to children with autism preferring less involved social interaction, saying that “(children)often engage in “parallel play” at the edge of a group rather than joining in cooperative play”

In movies you hear some things about guinea pigs. You may hear that they are mostly used as test subjects. You may hear that people eat them in South America. You may think that guinea pigs are gross, long tailed rodents, but they aren’t. In my opinion guinea pigs are cute. And they have no tail. But they are classified as a rodent.

Chapter 1 focuses on autism, Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDDs) and other Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). Described in 1943 by Dr. Leo Kanner, autism (also known as autistic disorder, childhood autism, or infantile disorder) is one of the PDDs along with Rett's disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD) referred to as Heller's syndrome, Asperger disorder, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). Rett's is a rare genetic abnormality affecting brain development in girls. There are treatments available, but there is no known cure. Asperger disorder affects an individual's ability to socialize and communicate effectively. Individuals with Asperger disorder may be socially awkward and have a compulsive

Autism is a developmental disorder, which is characterized by a dyad of difficulties in a) communication and social interaction and b) restricted interests and imagination (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Individuals on the Autism Spectrum might find it challenging to understand what other people think or what the reasons for their behaviours are, as their ‘theory of mind’ may not be well developed (Schuwerk, Vuori & Sodian, 2015). It is possible that this is why they might behave in socially inappropriate ways, being unable to differentiate between different contexts, while they might also find it difficult to make friends. Moreover, it is likely that they are fond of routines, repetition and structure (Carnahan, Musti-Rao, & Bailey, 2009), as they might be nervous with unknown, new situations. In addition, some of them might not do eye contact with other people, whereas some others might not endure to be touched and might have a difficulty developing speech (Jordan, 2005). Individuals on the Autism Spectrum might sometimes be prohibited to initiate conversations and might struggle with finding different ways to play and behave, due to the possible deficit of imagination, which in some cases might result in them having a narrow sphere of interests. Nevertheless, it should be noted that this group of people is rather heterogeneous, as characteristics of autism may differ from one individual to another (Gwynette, 2013). Another point is that people with Autism

A psychologist in the 1950’s by the name of Harry Harlow did a study on the parent-infant bond using a baby monkey and two artificial mothers. To make the experiment proper, Harlow removed the infant from its biological mother early on and was raised with individual cages (Myers, 2010, p. 188). The experiment was set up so that there were two “mothers”; one with the monkey’s blanket and the other had a bottle attached to a wire skeleton. This experiment was to test if a soft, caring mother, or one that provided food whenever pleased would more comfort an infant monkey.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be portrayed toward critical impairments in social interaction. It also includes restricted repeated behaviors, interests and activities. (Mayo Clinic staff, 2014)

Christmas break was finally over, so it was time to return to the stressful world known as school. I wanted to check on my guinea pig, Sparky, when I first woke up at six o’clock a.m. to see how he was doing. However, once I had lifted the small pink den that he slept under, I had discovered the ugly truth. The guinea pig that I had adopted from PetSmart nearly two weeks ago lay there unmoving, motionless. I had tried picking him up to put him in his small carrier, but he was very stiff and heavy, so I decided to leave him until my parents had found out.

Autism is a rare disease that can be characterized by a “neurodevelopmental disorder categorized by the inability to relate to and perceive the environment in the realistic manner.” (Anthes, 1997) The signs of autism are mainly found in infants to young children usually between the ages of newborn to two years. The main symptoms that are discussed are “impairment in social interaction fixation of inanimate objects, inability to communicate normally, and resistance to changes in their daily routine.” (Anthes, 1997) Autism is a very understood disease but one thing most people do not know is that autism not only effects a child’s life mentally and physically, it also effects their social ability to have friends, play normally and even grow up

“Most children with ASD interacted daily with their dogs and reported being “attached” to their dogs.” Relayed a source on how dogs affect autistic children’s social skills. (5) The interaction of children affected by ASD with animals went above and beyond all other sources of therapy to encourage interaction with others, verbal communication, and non-verbal interactions. Often times when children that have ASD are in public areas or classroom settings they become reserved and unwilling to communicate with others. These actions lead to being rejected by society and by their peers. A quote provided by a written evaluation on having therapy animals in the classroom remarked that, “Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in inclusion classrooms tend to be rejected and victimized by their peers, which can lead to social isolation, anxiety, and problem behaviors.” (8, paragraph 1) Often times it has been realized by parents of children with ASD that having an animal present with their child advances their level of communication with others and allows them to fit in better in all cases. Many articles concluded the same facts, one of them being that, “As the definition of ASD goes, children who have autism have difficulties socially interacting with peers, family, teachers, and other humans.” (1,

Autism - Children with ASD can suffer from a difficulty focusing, communicating well with others, and responding to sensory stimuli. Results from studies done on children with ASD have shown that after exposure to AAT there were positive effects on social interaction. According to the study, when a dog was introduced to children with ASD they displayed a reduction of stress, anxiety, and irritability around others, because the animals promoted a more relaxed environment for the children (Siewertsen).

Some of the children were identified as autistic, so reinforcing social skills was especially important. Children who self-isolated in a corner were asked to join in play groups of other children. I noticed with the autistic children,

Mastering social skills and interaction is a challenge for children living with autism. Autistic children often do not play with other children. Part of this is noticed during the early developmental stages of childhood. Autistic children are often referred as off in a world of their own, unaware of people or events around them. Children with autism have difficulties in verbal and with non-verbal communication, social interactions and leisure activities. Autistic children have sensory disorders that affect how they interact with objects and people around them. They possibly will experience sensitivities in the five senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. “Many children with autism have unusual sensitivities to sounds, sights, touch, taste and smells. High-pitched intermittent sounds, such as fire alarm or school bells, may be painful to these children. Scratchy fabrics and clothing tags may also be intolerable, and some children have visual sensitivities to the flickering of fluorescent lights (autism-society).” The lack of social skills can create behaviors in autistic children.

In order for a child to develop productive social skills, it is important to choose toys to enhance active, imaginative play, and discourage time at the computer or television. A game in which a child is encouraged to think for themselves rather than sit motionless staring at an electronic screen, is better for the development of the child’s social skills (Moore, 2). Time spent with other children, rather the child’s own age or older, will help develop necessary social skills that will stick with the child through adulthood (Roode, 1). From the day they are born, infants and children begin to form relationships, these relationships eventually deepen and enable them to handle future relationships with others outside their initial circle (Roode, 1). The ability for a person to build and further relationships, make moral judgments, etc. can be enhanced with games played with a group of children, stuffed animals, puppets or instruments (Roode, 1).

Through the use of music children with autism are able to express themselves better in these social situations. Children with autism are found to not be as engaged with others in social situations as other children. Children with autism are found to have impairment in their communication skills when they want to express themselves in a social situation (Gattino, dos Santos Riesgo, Longo, Leite, & Faccini, 2011). A study done by Kim, Wigram, and Gold found that music therapy promotes social skills, motivational and emotional development in children with