Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by social development deficiencies in areas such as communication and social interaction. Patients tend to show limited interests in most things, dissociative, and repetitive behaviors (Carlisle et al., 2017). Since children with ASD have trouble interpreting nonverbal cues, they often have difficulties interacting with other children and engaging in imitative or pretend play. Using pets to help autistic children socialize is being considered as an effective intervention in dealing with this condition.
Literature Review
In studies involving autistic disorders in children, the age of four to five years is crucial as it is during this period that the symptoms are most severe and openly noticeable. This is because as autistic children grow older, they learn to negotiate their shortcomings or outgrow major behavioral deficiencies (Grandgeorge et al., 2012). It can be hard to help an autistic child interact with others but recent studies have shown that animal assisted therapies (ATT) are used largely with significantly positive results ( O'Haire, McKenzie, McCune & Slaughter, 2014 ). Several animals such as horses, dolphins and dogs are proposed for these interventions as they are social animals that are known to interact favorably with humans (Grandgeorge et al., 2012). However, in most successful trials, dogs have shown the most promise in this area. This outcome is probably due to their ease of access and their flexibility such that a child can interact with them in any environment.
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Interactions with these animals have been found to encourage prosocial behaviors. The reason for this is that pets provide unconditional and non-judgmental positive affection. They are also more patient with children that may not understand social cues that people. In fact, some children learn to interact with people solely from their interactions with pets (Grandgeorge et al., 2012). Playing with pets is also quite complex as it involves processes such as object manipulation and mastery of sensorimotor action schemas through practice. This gives an autistic child a safe environment to experiment with various responses and practice for interactions that may happen with other people ( Berry, Borgi, Francia, Alleva & Cirulli , 2013). This method is also cost and time effective for families that want to help their autistic child. An increased interest in school attendance where AAT is a school activity is reported during the duration of the program in autistic children. This outcome suggests that pets encourage interaction and other social behaviors (O’Haire et al., 2014).
Animal assisted therapy displays positive effects in area such as reducing ASD symptoms, medical complications, behavioral problems, and improving emotional health. AAT also reduces anxiety and tantrums and ensures definite routines in autistic children ( Nimer & Lundahl, 2007 ; Berry et al., 2013 ). This intervention also relieves the stress and embarrassment that parents and other family members face from having a child with ASD by shifting the attention to the pet. This helps the entire family integrate easily into their community (Berry et al., 2013). It is important to consider the characteristics of a pet and whether they fit with the family whose child is undergoing therapy as this is necessary for success. Attention has to be paid to the activities of the therapy by a responsible adult to ensure the safety of both the child and the pet (Carlisle et al., 2017).
In most studies in this field, the information gathered may be inconclusive depending on the methods used. For instance, interviewing caregivers can create bias where the responses they give reflect their own satisfaction rather than actual change. Systematic observations of behavior though more time consuming may be more useful in producing comprehensive results (Berry et al., 2013). Another limitation is that the outcomes of AAT do not vary by the specific characteristics of participants. Therefore, this therapy can be added to the existing interventions for ASD. Further research should also be conducted to determine the specific conditions under which AAT is most effective ( Nimer & Lundahl, 2007 )
In conclusion, AAT programs do not have a standard of practice and further research should be carried out on larger populations to determine the best approaches to use. Another gap in research is that it is difficult to tell whether the outcomes of the therapy are enduring or whether they end as soon as the pet is removed (Berry et al., 2013). Many studies also focus on dogs and it would be helpful to find out how children react to other types of pet. This would help determine whether dogs have special characteristics that make them more favorable for AAT than other pets (Carlisle et al., 2017).
Methodology
A self-completion questionnaire will be used for this research study since it can help reach a large population and test various aspects of the topic at once. Questionnaires are also easy to structure where they can give both qualitative and quantitative data without having to conduct a separate study ( Synodinos, 2003) . This method will also help to avoid bias that is associated with direct interaction with the people being studied as they will not feel pressured to respond in a certain way. The questionnaires will be anonymous to reinforce this idea.
The first step in using a questionnaire is designing it. Since the research questions have already been set, the questionnaire will be designed to answer them. Ethical considerations in research particularly informed consent have to be observed. The questionnaire will include facts about the research, the information intended to be collected, and what it will be used for. A consent form will be provided where a participant can sign allowing their responses to be used in the study. All documents with unsigned forms will be disregarded for the study.
Preparing the questions is the second task which will be guided by the research questions and recommendations for further research in the literature review ( Synodinos, 2003) . The questionnaire has to have reliability and validity for it to be practical. Reliability can be achieved by rephrasing similar questions so they appear different but should give the same answer. The questionnaire will be divided into three parts. The first one will include demographical questions such as the age of the child, the symptoms they display, whether or not they own a pet, et cetera. The second part will have closed questions which will use a Likert scale to choose the answer that most fits. The options for each question will be “strongly disagree, disagree, undecided, agree, and strongly agree.” The last part will include open questions where participants will have to write down their answers.
Pre-testing the questionnaire is an important step as it helps to determine whether it is clear and simply understood and whether it is relevant to the research. Fellow colleagues or family members can help with this step ( Synodinos, 2003) . The questions have to be free of bias in that they do no suggest a specific opinion. Other important information to include is contact information, guidelines for participating, deadline, and where to send it to after completion ( Synodinos, 2003) . It is important to keep the participants anonymous to avoid bias and ensure confidentiality of the information given.
Since there are as many as one in every sixty-eight children affected by ASD in the U.S, the intention is to target autism centers for participants. Once the specific centers have been identified, there needs to be permission from their administrators to conduct the research in their facilities for the next step to be possible. The questionnaire will be filled by parents and caregivers as they have more knowledge of the behavior of autistic children than most people do.
Sampling
Sampling is used to select the participants in a research project. For this study, stratified sampling will be the most appropriate method since this project affects a large population that is divided by geographical location ( McLeod, 2014) . Therefore, using a stratified sample is the best way to ensure that a representative population is selected for this study. This method also ensures that a large pool of data is collected which is crucial since in research projects involving large groups of people, the larger the sample, the more reliable the data becomes ( McLeod, 2014) .
Large samples also account for non-responses and spoiled questionnaires so that even when 20% of the responses are not viable for evaluation, there is still enough to make a conclusive analysis. I will select 10 autism care centers that serve more than a hundred patients from all over the country and in each center; I will administer 30 questionnaires randomly within a period of one week. The participants will fill the forms within the facility and drop it at the reception des where all responses will be collected at the end of the study.
Necessary Tools
The tools necessary for this study are the questionnaire and pens for people to respond to the questions. I will also need charts and tables to analyze the data from so I can generate a report on my findings without leaving anything out. I will also need help from other people to analyze such a large amount of data.
References
Berry, A., Borgi, M., Francia, N., Alleva, E., & Cirulli, F. (2013). 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 Medicine , 19 (2), 73-80. doi:10.1089/acm.2011.0835
Carlisle, G. K., Johnson, R. A., Mazurek, M., Bibbo, J. L., Tocco, F., & Cameron, G. T. (2017). Companion animals in families of children with autism spectrum disorder: Lessons learned from caregivers. Journal of Family Social Work , 1-19. doi:10.1080/10522158.2017.1394413
Grandgeorge, M., Tordjman, S., Lazartigues, A., Lemonnier, E., Deleau, M., & Hausberger, M. (2012). Does Pet Arrival Trigger Prosocial Behaviors in Individuals with Autism? PLoS ONE , 7 (8), e41739. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0041739
McLeod, S. (2014). Sampling methods. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/sampling.html
Nimer, J., & Lundahl, B. (2007). Animal-Assisted Therapy: A Meta-Analysis. Anthrozoös , 20 (3), 225-238.
O'Haire, M. E., McKenzie, S. J., McCune, S., & Slaughter, V. (2014). Effects of Classroom Animal-Assisted Activities on Social Functioning in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine , 20 (3), 162-168. doi:10.1089/acm.2013.0165
Synodinos, N. E. (2003). The “art” of questionnaire construction: some important considerations for manufacturing studies. Integrated Manufacturing Systems , 14 (3), 221-237. doi:10.1108/09576060310463172
