Title: Animal-Assisted Therapy for Children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders
Abstract: The present study quantitatively evaluated the effects of interaction with dogs on children with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), disorders characterized by lack of social communications and abilities. While interacting with a therapist, children were exposed to three different conditions: (a) a nonsocial toy(ball), (b) a stuffed dog, and (c) a live dog. Prosocial and nonsocial interactions were evaluated in terms of both behavioral and verbal dimensions. Results show that children exhibited a more playful mood, were more focused, and were more aware of their social environments when in the presence of a therapy dog. These findings indicate that interaction with dogs may have specific benefits for this population and suggest that animal-assisted therapy(AAT) maybe an appropriate form of therapy.
Publication Year: 2002
Publication Date: 2002-10-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref', 'pubmed']
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Cited By Count: 398
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