A Review of Studies Conducted with Animal Assisted Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the studies’ effects of the practices offered through animal assisted interventions to children with autism spectrum disorder between 2000 and 2019 in terms of demographic, methodological and results variables. In this context, 11 articles meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria were reviewed and analyzed descriptively. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that the animal assisted interventions used in all studies except one study had a positive effect on the target skills of the participants with autism spectrum disorder and provided improvement. However, it was determined that most of the studies were designed with single-subject research models such as the AB and ABA models, which were considered to be weak in terms of the most basic and experimental control, and some studies were not reported as reproducible. In this respect, it is thought that more reproducible studies are needed to test the effects of animal assisted interventions, and to report the participant characteristics, baseline and implementation phases in more detail and clearly.

Keywords

• autism
• autism spectrum disorder
• animal assisted activity
• animal assisted therapy
• animal assisted treatment