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Michelle Rotondo Dr. Erin Dietel-McLaughlin Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric 14 November 2011 Animals Effects on Children with Autism Animal Assisted Therapy is a tool that greatly benefits children with autism along with their families. Developed skills are a main benefit of this type of therapy on autistic children. Skills can range from language skills, to social skills, to physical skills, and these all in turn help the individual with their social interactions in life. Having an animal around them stimulates them and allows them to experience social settings without feeling uncomfortable. This prepares them for interactions with other people, and other children with autism. The animals also add security and safety and this eases the familys mind and allows them to have one less stress in their lives. Animals pick up on human behaviors and feelings and if something goes wrong a service dog can alert the family. The animals also give the child a sense of safety out in the real world because they have a sense of comfort and control of themselves. However, some researchers disagree and say that animals only add stress to families who have autistic children. Stress can include daily routines with their child, costs of medical bills, along with the coast of taking care of an animal and the added responsibility to take care of something else and put in extra time with it. But, with the right animal in the right home it is proven that animals show great benefits with children with autism. The animals allow the children to develop a sense of identity and community. They form associations with the animals that help them to interact with people that include their family, friends, and others with autism. Animal-Assisted Therapy

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allows children with autism to live in the world like everyone else. They develop new skills and new social interactions that help them understand the world around them. When animal therapy is used on children with autism, new skills are developed by the child ranging from social skills, to physical and emotional skills. In many cases there have been significant instances where it is evident that the skills developed were due to the animal therapy and no other outside factors. One skill that can be acquired based on animal therapy is language skills because the animals response is used as a natural reinforcer. In Jennifer M. Barols article The Effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy on a Child with Autism she discusses a study she researched in which a young boy with autism went through animal therapy; she then discusses the effects of the therapy on the young boy, named Zachary. In the beginning of the study the young boy could not complete a full sentence but after weeks of training with the dog the child spoke a whole sentence and the researchers believe that its because of the therapy with the service dog. The fact that Zachary spoke his first complete sentence shows that there is some connection between the presence of a dog and how motivated Zachary is to improve (Barol, The Effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy on a Child with Autism). Although the service dog was not personally responsible for Zachary speaking a full sentence, it shows researchers that the animal had an effect on the childs language. This also shows that Zachary developed enough self-confidence because of his therapy to feel comfortable to speak a full sentence (Barol, The Effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy on a Child with Autism). Along with language skills, studies have found that children with autism often develop skills based on care-taking of the animals. Through childrens involvement in grooming, feeding, exercising, and feeding they learn responsibility and impulse-control behaviors (Pavlides 99108). With learning responsibility through care-taking, the child can also learn to begin to

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participate in responsibilities within the family. Chores in the home develop and encourage independence (Pavlides 104). Independence allows the child to create and personal identity and they can learn to become more comfortable in their body. Interaction with animals can help children with autism become more physically developed and improve their strength, coordination, and physical abilities (McCoy, How Pet Therapy Can Help Autism). Interacting with animals on a regular basis allows the child to engage in movements that they are not normally used to. For example, motor control. The autistic children learn on their own how to hold a dog on a leash and they learn motor coordination while petting the animal and by just holding it. In the article "Sentinels of Safety: Service Dogs Ensure Safety and Enhance Freedom and Well-Being for Families with Autistic Children, by Kristen E. Burrows, Cindy L. Adams and Jude Spiers, a qualitative ethology study is discussed in which dogs were used as therapy to children with autism. Data was collected from the parents of the children and video recordings of the family and the interactions between the child and the service dog and used this to show points in support of the use of service animals. The author states that the service dog helps regulate childs movements, such as, keeping them from bolting away spontaneously. The dog keeps the child rooted and keeps them in their uncomfortable situation to help them learn to cope to surroundings and situations (Burrows, Adams, and Spiers, "Sentinels of Safety). With their newly developed skills, autistic children learn how to interact in social situations. These social interactions range between animals, other autistic children and other people. Having contact with an animal on a regular basis, autistic children can practice their social interactions with the service animals. The service animals allow the individual with autism to learn to sympathize with emotions of others. They most often respond to our vocal

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intonations rather than specific vocabulary. Practicing touch and speech on an animal can provide the individual with autism with a wonderful reinforcement loop (Pavlides 103). By the way the animal reacts to things the child can understand how it is feeling. Whether the animal is happy or frightened, the child learns to understand the animals emotions, and this, in turn, sets the child up to understand how humans feel based on their actions. New skills have allowed the children to interact on a social level, and they learned to control themselves in social situations. In a study researched by Kristen E. Burrows and Cindy L. Adams called "Service Dogs for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Benefits, Challenges, and Welfare Implications, parents identified some key changes in their childs behavior. They found that there were a variety of changes in the mood and behaviors of their children, including decreased social anxiety, increased calmness, reduction in the number of meltdowns, dissipated/defused anger, more manageable bed time routines. The parents also reported that they could now spend time as a family out in public without having to think about safety concerns or unruly spontaneous behavior (Burrows, Adams, "Service Dogs for Children with Autism). In Jennifer Barols article she also discusses the impact of the animal therapy on the childrens behaviors. Her research found that at the beginning of the study the patient, Zachary, did not react well the new therapy he would become easily irritated and squeal and he would in turn throw a tantrum. At the end of the study Zachary had thrown no tantrums in the therapy sessions and even if something new was thrown in the session, he would not get irritated. The data found showed that self-stimulation, which involves teeth grinding and hand-clapping, decreased over the study (Barol, The Effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy on a Child with Autism).

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Through the animal therapy approach the autistic children had a better sense of security and safety. In the article by Kristen E. Burrows and Cindy L. Adams, data was found that supported this claim. The service dog allows the parents of the child to feel safe allowing their child out into the public on their own, or even with them. Having an animal as a companion improves the safety and security for the autistic child, both at home and in public. The dogs know how to let the parents know if something is going wrong and the dog also knows how to react to the child behaviors to calm them down (Burrows, Adams "Service Dogs for Children with Autism). As mentioned in the article by Kristen E. Burrows, Cindy L. Adams, and Jude Spiers, "Sentinels Of Safety: Service Dogs Ensure Safety and Enhance Freedom and Well-Being for Families with Autistic Children", it is shown that the animals know how to keep the child anchored during a tantrum so that they can learn to cope with their uncomfortable situation and they learn how to react in similar events in the future (Burrows, Adams, Spiers, "Sentinels Of Safety). Although there are many benefits of using animal assisted therapy, stress is a huge issue when it comes to the family of the autistic child, or the child itself. Having a new animal around can cause stress to the autistic child because they may be frightened by it and they may not know how to act around the new animal and have extreme sensory reactions. Stress tends to build upon itself and if the child is stressed out, then the animal may become stressed out and cause behavioral responses that are not good for the child because this would add to the stress level in the situation (Pavlides 106-107). Not only does the stress affect the child, but also the family. The family of an autistic child already has to deal with high medical costs, learning to control their child, and now they have to deal with the stress of taking care of an animal. If the autistic child at hand was put into a special school for autistic children, most likely the family has to pay

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for the cost of it; they also probably pay for medical bills. Having a pet takes a lot of commitment and extra work like the extra time for grooming, exercise, training, feeding, packing extra water, leashes, service jacket, etc (Burrows, Adams, and Spiers "Sentinels of Safety). The time and effort needed to take care of a pet on top of the stress that a family already goes through with having to deal with their autistic child is too much of a burden. Not only is the responsibility too stressful, but so is the cost of taking care of a pet and a child with autism. To spend money on food, bedding, confinement, toys, and grooming, along with financial burdens because of autism is too much for a family to endure (Pavlides, 107-108). However, depending on the animal taking in by the family it may not be too much of a burden. Having knowledge about different breeds of animals, and different animal species can be helpful in choosing an animal that will benefit the autistic child and also not be too much of a burden on the family. Another criticism of animal assisted therapy is that it could be a health concern for both the child, and the animal. Though the animals that are used in therapy and as household pets for children with autism have most likely been trained, they are still animals and are unpredictable. Many studies have shown that about 334,00 people reported dog but-associated injuries and almost half of the victims were children under the age of 12 years old (Pavlides, 105). If an autistic child would have been bitten, this could reverse the effects of the animal therapy because now they may develop a fear towards the dog. In Pavlides article he says, it is likely that the pet has been attempting to communicate fear or other stress long before an injury is delivered (105). Autistic children would not be able to see signs of fear or stress of an animal because they dont have the skills to understand others pains or other emotions. Not only does this type of therapy included added health and safety issues but it can also result in disease. Sometimes with

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only a small scratch or a bite an animal can pass along a disease. The CDC recommends that anyone who comes in contact with an animal should wash their hands and stay hygienic (Pavlides, 106). Although animals can be very helpful at times they may also cause harm to the children they come in contact with. However, this is very rare because most autistic children with animals around them probably have a therapist there with them or if it is their pet they are used to dealing with their animals properly. So it may seem as though this is a big deal because it may be bad for the childs health but in most situations the therapist or family has taught the child how to deal with the animals and how to take care of themselves around the animal. Autistic children seem to benefit greatly from therapy involving animals. Being around animals allows the child to develop skills they may have never been able to learn on their own. This also helps them with their social skills and interactions because it gives them more confidence and helps them to develop a sense of identity. For the children to be able to learn skills they can use every day is a big deal to the family as well. It helps the family create a sense of community because their child knows how to interact socially and it is proven that they are less likely to throw tantrums. The families of children that have autism and are undergoing animal assisted therapy have less stress on them because their child has so many new found skills to live off of and grow as a person. The benefits of animal-assisted therapy are ones that help the child immensely and they are life skills that they can use every day.

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Works Cited Barol, Jennifer M. The Effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy on a Child with Autism. New Mexico Highlands University, 2006. Web. Burrows, Kristen E., Cindy L. Adams, and Spiers, Jude. "Sentinels O Safety: Service Dogs Ensure Safety and Enhance Freedom and Well-Being for Families With Autistic Children." Qualitative Health Research 18.12(2008). Web. Burrows, Kristen E., and Cindy L. Adams. "Service Dogs for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Benefits, Challenges, and Welfare Implications." (2005). 2005. Web. McCoy, Krisha. "How Pet Therapy Can Help Autism. Health Information, Resources, Tools & News Online - EverydayHealth.com. 12 Jan. 2010. Web. Pavlides, Merope. "Chapter Four: Companion Animals." Animal-Assisted Interventions for Individuals with Autism. Philidephia: Jessica Kinsley. 99-130. Web. Wilson, Cindy C., and Dennis C. Turner. Companion Animals in Human Health. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1998. Print.