The effects of the interaction of animals with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and their families [abstract]

The CDC estimates that one in 110 children receive a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) annually. Pet dogs have been found to be a social catalyst and service dogs have demonstrated measurable benefits for children with ASD. Given that 39% of American households have a dog, this survey investigates the perceived benefits and barriers of having a dog in a family with a child with ASD

MANDS FOR INFORMATION GENERALIZE ACROSS ESTABLISHING OPERATIONS

The current study extends the literature on teaching mands for information by assessing whether mands generalize across different establishing operations (EOs). Three children with autism were taught to perform multiple behavior chains, 3 of which included a common response (e.g., “Where is the spoon?”) used for different purposes. An interrupted-behavior-chain procedure was used to contrive the EO for each mand. After teaching a mand for information under 1 EO, the remaining chains were interrupted to determine whether the mand had generalized to different EOs. For all participants, mands for information generalized across EOs. For 2 participants, a new mand-for-information topography emerged after training