This study found multiple areas within the broad field of pragmatics in which a therapy dog can benefit the child that they are partnered with. In general, it appears that having a trained service dog for individuals with ASD may be a good tool to support the developmental of a variety of skills. Specifically, within the areas of socializing and use of language, the dog can provide the child with opportunities for conversations, as well as topics to discuss and experiences to share

Brackenbury, Tim

McManamon, Rachel

Wilson, Megan

English

Bowling Green State University: ScholarWorks@BGSU

Bowling Green State University ScholarWorks@BGSU Honors Projects Honors College Spring 4-29-2021 Parent Perceptions of Service Animals Impacts on the Language Skills of Their Children with Autism Rachel McManamon mcmanre@bgsu.edu Tim Brackenbury tbracke@bgsu.edu Megan Wilson mrwilso@bgsu.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/honorsprojects  Part of the Disability Studies Commons, and the Language Description and Documentation Commons How does access to this work benefit you? Let us know! Repository Citation McManamon, Rachel; Brackenbury, Tim; and Wilson, Megan, "Parent Perceptions of Service Animals Impacts on the Language Skills of Their Children with Autism" (2021). Honors Projects. 651. https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/honorsprojects/651 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College at ScholarWorks@BGSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@BGSU.         Parent Perceptions of Service Animals Impacts on the Language Skills of Their Children with Autism McManamon, R., Brackenbury, T., Wilson, M. Introduction Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a pervasive developmental disorder that impairs the ability of the individual to communicate, form relationships, and restricts their behaviors (Sierwertsen et al., 2015). While there is much about ASD that remains unknown, there is a wealth of research in the discipline of Communication Sciences and Disorders, particularly in the linguistic area of pragmatics, or social interaction. Characteristics of ASD pertaining to pragmatics can vary significantly from person to person. Individuals with ASD often struggle with relating to the emotions of others, choosing appropriate topics for conversation, initiating interactions, and feeling comfortable with others. (Harwood et al., 2018).  Utilizing animals for therapeutic purposes is not an unheard-of occurrence. While often used to help treat physical or mental health conditions, there has been a recent rise in animal assisted therapy for individuals with developmental disabilities. The role of the animal can be to provide comfort to the individual, alert the individual to any safety concerns, or assist in activities (Johnson, 2020). For conditions such as ASD, the therapy animals mainly serve to facilitate interactions, as well as comfort the individual and reduce negative emotions and behaviors associated with ASD. Based on our review of the current literature, there are many intervention approaches that have been shown to successfully improve the pragmatic skills of children with autism. (Berry et al., 2013; Carvalho, A., 2019; Harwood et al., 2018; Hill et al., 2018; Sierwertsen et al., 2015). Within this literature are several studies that have shown the presence of widespread benefits to children with ASD with a therapy dog present in therapy         sessions, or even in the home as an emotional companion. These benefits include reduction in stress/anxiety levels and problematic behaviors; and an increase in verbal and nonverbal social behaviors, eye contact, happiness/comfort levels, and meaningful use of language (Berry et al., 2013; Carvalho, A., 2019; Harwood et al., 2018; Hill et al., 2018; Sierwertsen et al., 2015).  There are a few common themes of improvements within the area of social language and behavior for children with service dogs. In some of the studies, the presence of a service dog resulted in an increased frequency and duration of both verbal and nonverbal behaviors during social interactions with peers (Harwood et al., 2018). Specifically, dogs act as a social bridge to facilitate easier interactions between peers (Hill et al., 2018). Therapy dogs also work to increase overall sense of responsibility within the individual. Specifically, Harwood et al., 2018, describes the effects that childhood autism has on their ability to form relationships and how canine companions can help this ability. This study interviews 11 mothers of children with autism about how they perceive the use of the service dogs on the emotional, social, and behavioral aspects of their children. Harwood et al. describes an added sense of safety and security in the child that helps them decrease stress and anxiety in social situations, and how the dogs can help form a bridge between their peers to facilitate relationship formations. There was a common emergence of love and companionship, as well as perceptions of ownership with the child. The dog had a comforting and calming influence, assisting in the child’s understanding of world and navigate challenging experiences (Harwood et al., 2018). It was also found that having a therapy dog leads children to exhibit more verbal and nonverbal behaviors during social interactions and reduces the frequency of problematic behaviors (Harwood et al., 2018).         The present research intends to add to these finding of overall general areas of benefits by looking specifically at the area of pragmatics and relationship forming in more depth. This would include the potential increases in social skills and overall comfort levels of the child, as well as decreases in the negative behaviors, such as withdrawal and lack of eye contact, that are typically associated with the occurrence of ASD. Methods The method used as approved by BGSU’s Institutional Review Board on 06/30/20. The stamped consent form is included in Appendix A. At the start of the research process, we recruited our subject by reaching out to associations that provide therapy dogs to children with ASD, as well as associations that serve families of children with ASD. While we struggled to hear back from places wanting to work with us, we reached out to some Facebook groups for parents of children with ASD. Our participant expressed interest in the content of the study and reached out the principal investigator and set up a time and date for an interview. We interviewed the parent of one child with ASD that currently has a service dog. After obtaining consent from the parent, a 30-minute semi-structured interview was held over a web meeting platform (Zoom) due to the current limitations in the ability to meet face to face with the individuals. During the interview, we asked a baseline set of questions and added follow-up questions regarding their child’s autism and therapy dog, their child’s communication skills before and after the introduction of the dog, and the potential effects that communication changes have had on the child’s behavior and emotional states. The interview was recorded and transcribed by the principal investigator. Using qualitative analysis methods, Dr. Brackenbury, Mrs. Wilson, and I coded the transcripts for individual ideas and organized the codes into overall themes. The parent will receive a $20 Amazon gift card for their participation.         Results From the interview, we identified four common underlying themes regarding the child’s experience with their therapy dog. These themes include responsibility, confidence, fitting in with peers, and spontaneous language use. Responsibility From the interview, our participant discussed various ways that the therapy dog has improved the overall responsibility of the child. It is brought up that there are not very many household chores that the child is able to accomplish on their own due to their symptoms of ASD. The dog, however, incites personal responsibility in being the main care provider for their dog. The child is then able to have daily responsibilities that they are able to accomplish on their own or with little guidance. This influence of responsibility is apparent on the dog as well as the child. The dog has the responsibility to detect changes in the child’s behavior and mood and proactively take the measure to calm the child down before those negative behaviors can emerge. This double-sided sense of responsibility in the child-dog relationship helps foster a sense of duty and responsibility in the child to take care of the dog, as well as the dog to look out for and support the child in the areas that they struggle with and provide a safe environment for the child to learn. From a parent’s perspective, the presence of a therapy dog is also beneficial in that the dog is able to reduce some of the workload and stress on the parent in taking care of the child. Being trained for the purpose of supporting a person with ASD, therapy dogs are useful for handling behaviors and situations that the parents might struggle to know how to help with. Confidence         Another big impact from having a therapy dog is the confidence that the child exhibits in a variety of settings and situations. Stemming from the increased responsibility, the child is able to have something that they can be proud of and feel good about. Their dog becomes a sense of pride for them and can quickly grab the attention of peers and other members of society. Since the dog is trained to be patient and follow the commands of the child, the child is then much more likely to succeed in the activities that they partake in with their dog and feel accomplished when they otherwise might not have a whole lot, they are able to do on their own. Our participant had multiple stories in which their child could talk about their dog in a way that shows more competency than there may have been before, that the child internalizes and speaks proudly of. Fitting in with Peers An important function of a therapy dog on individuals with ASD is to act as a social bridge to facilitate social interactions. Our participant also noticed many changes in their child’s ability to communicate with and fit in with their peers when the dog is present. First, the dog becomes a topic of conversation that the child has knowledge on and is able to contribute to conversations regarding the dog by having relevant stories and experiences to share. The dog is sort of a kickstand on which the child is able to support themselves on by always having a topic of conversation that they are knowledgeable in and able to discuss with peers. Second, having a dog nearby is a good tool to initiate conversations with peers. People are drawn to seeing a dog in public and are more inclined to approach the child and start speaking with them. This is a good tool for the child to have so they are able to use their dog as a way to communicate with others.         Last, because the therapy dog is useful for starting communications between the child and others, the child experiences more exposure to different things. Particularly, the participant discussed how their child is better able to recognize emotions from the kinds of interactions they have with other because of the dog.  Spontaneous Language Use Our final theme found from our interview is that the dog encourages more language use from the child. When engaging in conversations about their dog, the child has more that they are readily able to talk about, and so the child participated in more spontaneous conversations by sharing their sense of responsibility and confidence of the caretaking of their dog. Our participant has their child engage in activities/therapies that requires the child to communicate with the dog. From doing this, the child has learned that the dog requires language to be used in order to receive commands from the child and can no longer rely on other strategies as dogs don’t understand nonverbal communication attempts. With a child that primarily communicates through behaviors rather than verbal language, having a dog that they are responsible for that can only respond to verbalizations, is a very effective way to prompt the child intro using more language to communicate with others. Discussion From this interview, we can see multiple areas within the broad field of pragmatics in which a therapy dog can benefit the child that they are partnered with. In general, it appears that having a trained service dog for individuals with ASD may be a good tool to support the developmental of a variety of skills. Specifically, within the areas of socializing and use of language, the dog can provide the child with opportunities for conversations, as well as topics to discuss and experiences to share.         In this study, we found results that closely match the conclusions found relevant literature. This particular area of study identifies an overall lack of in-depth research that will require larger and more controlled studies that reduce the presence of bias to take place in the future to confirm the significance of the results suggested in the literature.          References Berry, Alessandra. Borgi, Marta. Francia, Nadia. Alleva, Enrico. Cirulli, Francesca. Use of Assistance and Therapy Dogs for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Critical Review of the Current Evidence. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Evidence 2013. Carvalho, Alisha. Critical Review: Does canine-assisted intervention support positive social functioning and improve communication outcomes in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)? 2019. Funahashi, Atsushi. Gruebler, Anna. Aoki, Takeshi. Kadone, Hideki. Suzuki, Kenji. Brief Report: The Smiles of a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder During an Animal-assisted Activity May Facilitate Social Positive Behaviors—Quantitative Analysis with Smile- detecting Interface. Springer Science + Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2013. Harwood, Caitlin. Kaczmarek, Elizabeth. Drake, Deirdre. Parental Perceptions of the Nature of the Relationship Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders Share with Their Canine Companion. Springer Science + Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018.  Hill, Jessica. Ziviani, Jenny. Driscoll, Carlie. Cawdell-Smith, Judy. Can Canine-Assisted Interventions Affect the Social Behaviors of Children on the Autism Spectrum? A Systematic Review. Springer Science + Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018.         Johnson, J. (2020). Animal therapy: How it works, benefits, and more. Retrieved April 07, 2021, from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/animal-therapy Sierwertsen, Caitlin. French, Emma. Teramoto, Masaru. Autism Spectrum Disorder and Pet Therapy. Advances Journal, 2015.         Appendix A                                         Appendix B Presentation of finding: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lnhaHBGgyxRZmYHwdZkt5YZUiMNIX30r/view?usp=sharing 

Parent Perceptions of Service Animals Impacts on the Language Skills of Their Children with Autism

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Parent Perceptions of Service Animals Impacts on the Language Skills of Their Children with Autism

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