Increasing the Social Communication of a Boy With Autism Using Animal-assisted Play Therapy: A Case Report.

CONTEXT: Although research has shown that animal-assisted play therapy (AAPT) is associated with increased positive social behaviors in children with autism, the related literature on AAPT and autism is very limited.

OBJECTIVES: The study tested the effectiveness of AAPT in increasing the social communication of a boy with autism. The treatment's effects on specific types of social communication were also investigated.

DESIGN: An A-B-A single-subject design was adopted to examine treatment effectiveness. Follow-up assessments were made at 1 mo posttreatment.

SETTING: The videotaped treatment sessions were held in the multipurpose room of the participant's school.

PARTICIPANT: A 7-y-old boy who had a diagnosis of autism and mild-grade intellectual disability participated in the study.

INTERVENTION: AAPT was implemented in 20-min sessions held 3 ×/wk. The 14 AAPT sessions occurred in 4 phases, covering child-dog relationship building and interaction in the presence of the therapist, with the diminishing presence of the dog occurring in phase 4.

OUTCOME MEASURES: Naturally occurring social behaviors were measured in 3 baseline sessions, during the 14 AAPT sessions, during 3 posttreatment sessions, and again during 3 follow-up sessions. Momentary time sampling was used to estimate the frequency of target behaviors, using a 15-s interval. Behavioral categories were checked at every interval during each 20-min session in all 23 sessions.

RESULTS: The study showed that the boy's social communication increased during treatment and remained higher than baseline at follow-up. An analysis of specific types of social communication showed that the benefits of AAPT were most apparent in the joint-attention and waiting behaviors.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings provide support for using AAPT as an intervention to facilitate the social communication of children with autism.