What Are The Effects Of Pets On Children With Autism?
Children with autism often have difficulties when initiating and maintaining interactions with other children and, among the aids to improve their social skills, it has been found that one of them is the company of a pet, which has shown very good results. positive and also promising.
Various studies on the effects of pets on children with autism have obtained very positive results.highlighting an improvement in their social skills at a general level and a decrease in their physiological activation in social contexts, as well as a decrease in their social interactions with other children.
In this article we will see in greater detail what these effects are at all levels: social, psychological and physical.
Social anxiety in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
On a general level, children with ASD usually have certain difficulties when interacting socially and communicating with other people due to a series of deficiencies when perceiving the verbal and non-verbal signals of other peopleapproaching other people, responding to certain social contexts, as well as maintaining eye contact.
All of this can cause difficulties for children with ASD when initiating and/or maintaining social interactions with other children, so after having suffered some difficult attempts, it could trigger them to develop anxiety in social situations.
However, today there are enough studies that have shown that these children can progress in the development of social skills that allow them to initiate and maintain social interactions quite successfully, among which is the support of a pet. That is why some studies will be presented below that have demonstrated the effects of pets on children with autism, which have shown quite positive, as well as promising, results.
The beneficial effects of pets on children with autism
Various studies that have studied the effects of pets on children with autism have found the following benefits in general.
1. Benefits at a social level
There are numerous studies in this regard that have shown that the mere presence of a pet is directly related to the improvement of social skills in children with autism. Below we will take a closer look at the effects of pets on children with autism.
One of those effects of pets on children with autism is that the mere presence of an animal has been seen to help reduce the physiological effects produced by social anxietyresults that were similar in nurotypical children with social anxiety.
Another benefit of having a pet for children with autism is the help it provides them when it comes to improving their social skills, so that they have a greater predisposition to initiate and maintain social interactions, as well as it has been shown that there is a decrease of negative interactions with other children.
Having a pet in the classroom where there are children with ASD also demonstrates the effects of pets on children with autism, as it facilitates success when it comes to maintaining social interactions with other classmates, helping them to have less social inhibition, way they are more inclined to be the ones to initiate interactionsas well as having less social anxiety and, therefore, fewer negative social interactions.
2. Benefits on a psychological level
Among the benefits of having a pet on a psychological level, the following have been found in people with autism:
3. Benefits on a physical level
Beyond the psychologicalthe following benefits of having a pet on a physical level have also been found in people with autism:
Encourages an increase in the child’s physical activity.
As a result of physical exercise, their motor skills, balance and coordination improve.
Having a pet at home reduces your stress levels and, with it, your heart rate and blood pressure.
Studies conducted on the effects of pets on children with autism and children with social anxiety
Various studies have been carried out on the effects of pets on children with autism, as well as on children who also have social anxiety, obtaining very positive results in all of them thanks to the presence of a pet at their side.
Yes, too It is important to consult a specialist when giving a pet to a child.since there are numerous socialization programs with animals that serve both children and adults, as well as some that are focused on people with autism.
1. Effects of having a dog at home as a pet on children with autism
In a study carried out with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), some of the effects of pets on children with autism were demonstrated, highlighting that the presence of an animal in the home helped to significantly reduce their physiological stress.
To carry out the study, a sample of 42 children with autism was used, whose ages were between 3 and 14 years old, to whom They were given a dog with which they had to live for a time. At 4 weeks, significantly lower levels of cortisol (stress hormone) were already noted compared to those at 2 weeks, with an even greater difference compared to the levels they had at the beginning of the experiment.
Therefore, this study has shown that a companion animal can help lower physiological stress levels in children with autism.
To carry out this study, direct examinations were made of the levels of continuous physiological activation in children with ASD in social contexts with the presence of the dog and also without it to make a comparison. The levels of physiological activation were evaluated using skin conductance, since it is one of the most studied physiological activation signals and has proven to be a robust and effective test for its purpose.
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2. Effects of having a guinea pig as a pet in the classroom on children with autism
A more recent study carried out with 192 children from 5 to 12 years old, of which 64 were children with ASD, sought to verify their improvement in their performance in social situations by having a guinea pig as a class pet. The factors that were studied in these children throughout the study were the following: social anxiety, social skills deficit, social isolation, activation at a physiological level and negative interactions with their peers. The results showed that children with ASD obtained global improvements in their social skills after 8 weeks with the guinea pig as a classroom pet.
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3. Effects of the presence of pets on children with autism when playing with other children
Another study carried out with 99 children (33 of them with ASD) in which an observation of their behavior was carried out performing various tasks: playing with toys and then playing freely in the presence of animals. The results clearly demonstrated that children with ASD were more participatory and had fewer negative interactions with non-children when animals were present.
This study showed that the presence of an animal helps children with ASD, encouraging them to be less socially isolated, have fewer negative interactions with their peers and, overall, to improve their performance in social situations.
4. Effects of the presence of pets in social situations in children with social anxiety
There are other studies that have shown that the simple presence of an animal changes the perception of neurotypical people with social anxiety problems when faced with a social situation, making them perceive it in a less stressful way and asking them to face it with greater optimism. While it is true that the accompaniment of other trusted people is very beneficial, the presence of a pet, in some cases, has been seen to produces greater effects in reducing stress in social contextss.
In 2012, an experiment was carried out in which 47 neurotypical children between the ages of 7 and 11 participated, who presented anxiety in social situations. These children had to perform the task of presenting a brief speech in the presence of a group of unknown adults, changing certain aspects of the context (e.g., there being only adults, having a toy at hand and being accompanied by an animal).
The result was that when there was an animal present in the company of the children who had to speak in public, they showed lower levels of anxiety than if only adults were present or if they had a toythe results may be due to the children’s perception of not feeling judged by animals and seeing unconditional support in them, while people may be perceived as a source of social judgments.
