##action With A Therapy Dog Enhances The Effects Of Social Story Method In Autistic Children : Case Study

Many treatment approaches have developed different ways of dealing with the challenges of autism. First, there is the theory of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which consists of giving a child a specific task, which teaches skills from basic ones to more complex ones, such as social interaction. Children taking this approach, work 30-40 hours a week with a trained professional. (West 66) It may be emotionally difficult for the child, and his/her parents to dedicate so much time, yet it is worth it. However, it has been proven that ABA methods have shown consistent results in teaching new skills and behaviors to children with autism. (West 68)

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an intricate brain disorder that can cause difficulties in social skills, communications, and abnormal behavior. Looking at children with ASD, researchers began investigating how to lessen the affects that ASD had on children using animals. More specifically, it was discovered that dogs could be helpful to children. “Man’s best friend” may be valuable in a way doctors and trained therapeutic professionals are not. How does interacting with a dog affect children with autism spectrum disorder?

What was the purpose of this study? (i.e., what question(s) did the authors want to answer?)

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

The method describes the participants as two children diagnosed with autism and had language skills that were appropriate for the Social Stories intervention. The participants were in two different general education kindergarten classrooms, full-time at a public elementary school. The fist participant, Matt, was a 6-year-old Asian American boy who had a teaching assistant assigned to his classroom and the second participant, Ted, was a 5-year-old Caucasian boy who had a teaching assistant assigned to accompany throughout the school day. The participants received training sessions one to four times per-week that were conducted in private rooms for 10 to 20 minutes in the morning before class at each participant’s school. The participants only read Social Stories that only pertained to their individual targeted behaviors for intervention. The stories used had no pictures, only large text on white paper. The participants were read one story per

For a number of children with autism having a companion dog is the difference between life and death. Methodically trained guide dogs help create an environment where autistic children are comfortable enough to live a more ordinary lifestyle. Autism spectrum disorder is a major public health problem that is the most common neurological disorder affecting 1 out of every 110 births in the US (Autism Society, 2009). ASDs can range in severity from Asperger Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism where the child can function relatively well in society, to autistic disorder or classical ASD, which severely inhibits the child’s ability to socialize or communicate (NINDS). Autism manifests itself most strikingly as impairments in formation of

Results revealed a significant difference between the intervention and control group on social skill behaviors. Specifically, participants who received the intervention S.S.GRIN-HFA significantly outperformed the control group on skills related to awareness, cognition, communication, motivation, and mannerisms Davis et al. (2011). Results also revealed no differences between groups on measures related to self-efficacy and feelings of loneliness. Children with high functioning Autism can develop greater social skill development if they are taught social skills using a broad based approach to social skills training. S.S.GRIN-HFA offers professionals teaching social skills numerous advantages of generic social skill training programs in that it promotes generalization through community exercises and actively engages parents while proving focused social skill training to the participants.

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

I researched autism assistance dogs (AAD), specifically their training, eligible criteria and positive effects on the child. I read websites and books along with watching videos to get secondary information. I contacted an expert in the field - Danielle Mathews, service coordinator of AAD at Guide Dogs SA/NT, to obtain further information to support my findings.

The research identified that there are very few studies that address social storiesTM for young adults with autism disorders. (Karayazi et. al, 2001, p.126) As a result of that discovery, the researcher studied the effects of using social stories with a young woman with Autism Spectrum Disorder to increase pro-social behavior: nose- cleaning and appropriate greetings. (Karayazi et. al, 2001, pg. 126) Social stories are illustrations that encourages pro-social behavior to individual with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Previous studies examined the use of social stories to increase verbal communication in ASD children; increasing pro-social and reducing disruptive behaviors in ASD children; decreasing disruptive behaviors by using multiple-baseline across participant design (Ozedmir, 2008); and, decreasing anti-social behavior in adolescents. The research hopes to find a positive correlation between social stories and increasing pro-social behavior in young adults.

Can you see anything wrong with the way the researcher(s) handled this study? Is there anything you would have done differently?

This study also seemed to repeat information a lot, giving the readers the same prospective that was read on the very first few pages. However, this study do not have a lot of weaknesses because majority of the information said seemed to be very legit. On the other hand, if I were to be doing this study I would have probably made it more enjoyable to read. I honestly think that giving a definite story to go along with the background and statistics would have made this article the best thing to read. Another thing that I would have done to improve the study would be to take some of the words out because at times it was a bit too

Sam was the main character in this article, who had Asperger syndrome, which is a disorder of the autism spectrum disorder. Sam, like other children with ASD was at times hard to handle and become frustrated with his peers easily. Many times he would scream at those that he didn’t care for came near him or even touched him. His mom had a hard time connecting with Sam at times and he didn’t always listen to her. He especially never seemed to listen to her when it was time for her to take him to a sports club. Every Monday it consisted of her constantly telling Sam he had to go which resulted in her dragging him to the car. When Sam arrived to the Delaware Sports Club, ran by the University of Delaware, he didn’t always want to participate in the activities. Sam was being bragged or given rewards if he completed a physical activity. Physical activities to Sam was playing his video games and watching T.V. His instructors tried everything they could think of to get Sam to enjoy the physical activities they had planned for him. Nothing seemed to interest Sam and he would result to shutting down from everyone whenever he didn’t feel like doing the activity. However, the college students soon learned about a research that was being conducted with therapy dogs. Using a therapy dog during Sam’s physical activities sessions made him more interested and want to participate. His mom no longer had to force him to go to sports club, and he became so excited whenever his dog, Calli,

One evidence-based therapeutic technique is the use of Social Stories. The use of Social Stories was first introduced in 1993, and their primary goal is to help clients with Autism Spectrum Disorder with his or her behavioral, communicative, and social difficulties (Kokina & Kern, 2010). Social Stories aim for clients to better understand social situations, behaviors, and interactions. They are short stories written from the client’s perspective, and intend to inform, educate, reflect on, or explain situations, concepts, events, or skills. There are a variety of purposes for Social Stories, and they can be adapted to suit the individual needs of a client. Social Stories may also be used to describe why another person might be behaving

A young boy sits with his speech therapists, not saying a word and not interacting with anything. The young boy is autistic, he refuses to socialize or interact with others. After months of getting nowhere, his therapists decide to bring in a dog. At first the young boy does not know what to think, he ignores the dog but in time he slowly warms up to the idea. The young boy starts to interact with the dog, playing and feeding the dog, as he interacts and plays he becomes more social with other people. The young boy’s parents notice he interacts and plays with his brothers and wants to help out at home. In this story the boy was not responding to any stimuli until the dog came along, the dog was acting as a medium for the speech therapists.