Social Intervention Design Study

Though there was not a specific hypothesis, it can be concluded that a general hypothesis for the study was if children that have ASD have a service dog, will they have behavior benefits, which is considered to be true. This journal withholding an impact factor of 4.704 is deemed as very informational. Because this study didn’t hurt or deceive anyone, it is deemed as ethical. The data collected within this study can be beneficial to those who have children with ASD; they can simply learn how to make their child’s life easier and less complicated by providing them with a service

A well-known ASD adult, Temple Grandin suggests caregivers of ASD children that if the environments are organized to the “think in pictures” nature of ASD children, learning will be a lot easier for such children. She explains this nature to the Language-based thinkers as she translates every word that she hears or reads into the pictures and even movies. (Grandin, 1996) According to literature reviews conducted by Dettmer (2000) and Meadan(2011), the researches up to date the papers were published, agreed on the success of using visual supports to aid ASD children to social interactions, sequence and organize their life, transitions between activities, maintain attention, auditory processing, and behavioral challenges (Dettmer et al.,

Equine-assisted interventions. A study by Jenkins and Reed (2013) examined the ways that participating in equine-assisted interventions impacted children with autism’s social behavior in multiple contexts. They observed children (N=7) who were participating in a therapeutic horseback riding program both at the center and at home to find if this intervention altered the children’s social behaviors. The results did not indicate that these interventions produced significant changes in children’s affect, off-task behavior, problem behavior, compliance, or language in program or home observations. However, numerous parents verbally reported that there were changes in their child’s language abilities at home and school. This indicates that parental

More research is needed to find if animal-assisted interventions offer substantial and reliable improvements in symptoms in children with ASD. If family has extra resources and finds that these interventions might be beneficial for their child’s symptoms, this has not yet been found to be harmful. However, it might be advisable that social skills interventions are integrated into a child’s therapy before the use of an animal to aid in these interactions is selected. It seems that animal-assisted interventions are promising for improving safety and targeting atypical sensory responsiveness. If a child with autism’s safety cannot be managed in other ways and the family is experiencing substantial burden, a service dog might be a beneficial

Animal-assisted therapy is the inclusion of an animal in treatment for a therapeutic purpose, such as a child having a trained therapy dog that serves much like a service dog for the blind (Velde, B. P., Cipriani, J., & Fisher, G., 2005). Animal-assisted activities (AAA) are not individually designed, goal-oriented, or led by a trained professional and include activities like equine-assisted activity, classroom animals, or companion animals (Evans & Gray, 2011). Despite the increasing commonality of animal-assisted interventions, there is a disagreement about the effectiveness of these practices. Supporters of animal-assisted interventions cite anecdotal evidence and findings from several research studies, whereas others assert that these interventions are not supported by quality research and are not ethically sound. However, there is little discussion on which animal-assisted interventions support the most optimal outcomes for particular children with ASD and the specific symptoms they are

“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,

Animal-assisted interventions have also been proposed as a method to improve social interactions and communication skills in children with autism. Supporters of animals improving social competence find that children have a natural connection with animals that may help to facilitate communication skills, which are often a challenging skill to improve in children with ASD. Solomon (2015) advocates for the inclusion of animals in structured interactions with the child, because “there are indications that some people diagnosed with ASD ‘are’ more companion-able and more response-able when their interactions with animals are enfolded into interactions with people” (p. 327). She describes these structured interactions for children with ASD through

This claim is further elaborated upon in the article by Martin and Farnum (2002) that suggest how AAT can be helpful in promoting social and communication skills. These authors present study is presented that evaluated the effects of interacting with therapy dogs on children with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD). While interacting with a therapist, the children were exposed to three different conditions: 1) a nonsocial toy (ball), 2) a stuffed dog, and 3) a live therapy dog. “Pro”-social and nonsocial behaviors and interactions were evaluated in both behavioral and verbal elements. The results showed that the children exhibited a more playful disposition, paid better attention, and were more aware of their social environments when the therapy dog was in the room with the therapist. The results of this study shows that AAT may be beneficial for children with PDD because the therapy dog is acting as transitional objects. As transitional objects, children establish primary bonds with the animals an these bonds can then be transferred to humans. Because children with PDD have difficulties forming such bonds, AAT may be a good fit for this population.

Not only can the interventions improve the frequency with which ASD children initiate interactions, but the duration of their interactions increases as well. Hochman (2015) observed four high school students with a baseline of 13.5 percent average engagement time during their thirty minute lunch periods. Once the team introduced trained classmates to the group, the participation increased to an average of fifty-five percent (Hochman, 2015). That is over half the lunch period spent socially engaged with their schoolmates! Furthermore, Battaglia and Radley (2014) observed Todd, an ASD child who was struggling to join in activities and

When reflecting, it is important to consider how children with ASD communicate with adults or people in authority, as well as their peers. It is known there is a power relationship between teachers and students, which has a direct effect on the children’s development (Hayes & Matusov, 2005). In fact, the way in which teachers communicate with children has been found to have direct consequences on children’s language development (Dangel & Durden, 2010) and social interactions (Stanton-Chapman, 2015; Irvin, Boyd & Odom, 2014) both of which are important for those with ASD due to their specific deficits in these areas. It is possible that due to deficits in ToM and executive functioning, which are commonly recorded in ASD (Llaneza, et al.,

Raising a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can be an unexpected and overwhelming experience for parents and families. ASD is a developmental disability that can cause significant delays in communication, social and behavioral challenges (CDC, 2016). With the growing prevalence of ASD comes the increasing need for health, education and social services. As previously mentioned, it is estimated that 1 in 68 children are diagnosed with ASD (CDC, 2016). Additionally, children with ASD can obtain significant challenging behaviors that can include tantrums, aggression, self-injurious behavior, noncompliance, property destruction and hyperactivity (Bearss et. al, 2013). Compared to parents of typically developing children, parents of children with ASD report a greater sense of helplessness along with avoiding conflict when dealing with challenges of parenting. To decrease noncompliance and unwanted behaviors along with increasing independence, parents of children with ASD may need specific instruction in behavioral interventions and procedures (Bearss et. al, 2013). This being said, young children with ASD can benefit immensely from early intervention. Early intervention can be defined as the experiences and opportunities utilized by primary caregivers of infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities that use behavioral concepts to shape and influence social interaction with people and objects (Odom, Horner, Snell & Blacher, 2007). The purpose

Comparatively students with ASD struggle with recognizing and managing emotions, and would benefit from explicit practice with this skill. While both disabilities benefit from social skill training, the needs of these populations are vastly different and instruction needs to take into account the needs of the population, and more importantly the individual needs of each student (original idea 3 of 4). Careful evaluation of behavior and social needs will help create an IEP that is truly representative of the goals that will benefit the learner, with input from multiple professionals such as behavior specialist, general and special education teachers, speech pathologists, and parents (Kaminsky, May 22, 2016, class discussion 3 of 4).

parents reported that their “problematic behaviour from their children subsequently decreased [and] a significant 48% decrease in CAR levels was observed among the children with ASD” (Siewertsen et al., 2015, 23). Another program that was introduced was called R.E.A.D. (Reading Education Assistance Dogs). This program helped students increase their reading levels anywhere from 2 grade levels to 4 grade levels in a matter of 13 months (Jalongo et al, 2004, 10). The dogs being present provided a non-judgmental presence that essentially created an audience for the child to read aloud without fearing what would be said if a mistake occurred. The students felt a sense of security and safety with the animal that may not have been provided by another

Martin and Farnum conducted a study which involved the use of dogs. The purpose of the study was to find out if the interaction with dogs would help with social interaction of individuals with autism. Researchers in this study found that the participants that interacted with the live dogs engaged in more initiating behavior. Another study by Sams looked at standard occupational therapy versus animal therapy and its effects on social interaction and language use in individuals with autism. The study showed that the individuals that interacted with the live animals had significantly greater use of language and social interaction as compared to the traditional occupational therapy. This study’s goal was to examine the effects of a 12-week therapeutic horseback riding intervention on social functioning of children with

Service or helper dogs are an excellent way for students with ASD to become more comfortable around their peers, serving as icebreakers when opening up conversations and contacts with people without disabilities in the school and in the community. Such dogs can be trained to carry books or other objects in saddle bags, pick up telephone receivers, turn on and off lights, open doors, help balance a person getting out of or into a wheelchair- the list is endless when it comes to the benefits of helper animals (Heward, Alber-Morgan, & Konrad, 2017). Service dogs have proved to be incredibly beneficial for fostering generosity, responsibility, compassion and patience in children with ASD, who often have trouble exhibiting these skills. Taking