2023-11-09 16:41:01
According to the World Health Organization, one in 100 children are now diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
This disorder causes more or less marked difficulties in communicating and interacting with others. These children struggle to recognize the emotions of others, and to understand how they feel, as well as to initiate and maintain an interaction, discuss, etc.
They also display behaviors and interests that we call “repetitive and/or restricted”: they can become very expert in a field that they like, prefer their environment to remain unchanged, have repetitive gestures such as rocking on themselves, clapping, jumping, etc.
Children with ASD are also often affected by sensory hyper- or hyposensitivity: they can then be extremely sensitive and bothered by stimulation in their environment, or on the contrary not react to it at all.
All of these difficulties pose permanent challenges for them, not only in their ability to function and evolve in their daily lives, but also in their ability to establish relationships with others. However, the family’s adoption of an animal might improve the situation. Explanations.
Benefits noted for a long time
It was in the 1950s that Boris Levinson, an American child psychiatrist, first reported the benefits of the presence of a dog during the sessions he carried out with a young boy with ASD.
However, research on the benefits of animals for children with ASD did not begin until the end of the 1980s. Since then, accumulated knowledge indicates that animals can indeed play a particular role for these children.
Indeed, not only do most children with ASD show a spontaneous attraction towards animals, but also, some of the difficulties they encounter in interacting with humans are not found with animals. This is for example the case of difficulties in initiating an exchange, looking at the face, making “eye to eye” contacts, or recognizing emotions.
The integration of an animal into the daily life of the child with ASD, whether it is a pet or an assistance dog, can have many positive effects on their development, resulting from special relationship that these children can have with him.
The studies not only reveal benefits similar to what is observed in children without ASD, but also that these benefits go beyond. We can break them down into four main spheres of action: communication and interactions, well-being, problem behavior, judgment and external views.
Better communication and social interaction skills
Firstly, we must discuss the benefits on the child’s sphere of communication and social interaction skills, a sphere affected by ASD.
Like any child, growing up with an animal allows the child with ASD to grow up with a being who is a true interaction partner and with whom they can establish a meaningful relationship.
Research also shows us that the presence of the animal can be an amplifier of the development of these children. Indeed, following the arrival of a pet in the family, children with ASD show an improvement in communication and language. They are more reciprocal in interaction, and show more helping and supportive behaviors towards each other.
In a study that we published in 2022, using a system allowing gaze recording, we were able to show that children with ASD living with a service dog for several years have better strategies for recognizing emotion when they look at human faces (compared to children with ASD living without a service dog). More concretely, this means that they are more likely to look at the mouth to recognize joy and the eyes to recognize anger.
Improved well-being
The benefits for the well-being of children with ASD are also an important benefit of living with an animal. They can become attached to their pet, and it will be a source of companionship and comfort, reducing their loneliness and distress. Better yet, research even shows that children with ASD who have a pet not only have better overall mood, but also have fewer anxiety problems and depressive symptoms.
For example, we observe that in the weeks following the arrival of a service dog in the family, the cortisol levels – sometimes also called “stress hormone” – of children with ASD decrease. The presence of an animal also has effects on these children’s self-confidence and self-esteem.
Reduced problem behaviors
ASD is very frequently associated with the expression of “challenging behaviors”, which are behaviors that can be dangerous for the individual or their environment, and/or which interfere with their ability to practice activities of daily life: seizures, running away, oppositional behaviors, self-stimulations and stereotypies (behaviors such as shaking or waving hands, body swinging, head banging, biting, hitting certain body parts, etc.).
The expression of these behaviors is often linked to a difficulty in coping with the situation, in other words a difficulty in understanding it, or in reacting to a surplus of stimulation, frustration, etc.
It has been shown that the arrival of an animal in the family, in particular an assistance dog, has the effect of reducing the expression of these behaviors. This reduction in problem behavior also has positive consequences on the child’s quality of life.
Change in judgment and external views
Due to their atypical behaviors and their difficulty in respecting interaction norms, children with ASD are often judged and left aside. Scientific literature reveals that the presence of an animal at a child’s side has the effect of attracting other people to them and promoting positive social interactions.
In addition, the distinctive cape or harness that assistance dogs wear also has another benefit: they allow identification of the invisible disability by those around them, which reduces their possible propensity to pass a negative judgment and encourages goodwill towards them. -toward the child and his atypical behavior.
Benefits for the whole family
Beyond these four spheres of effects on the child with ASD (communication and interactions, well-being, problem behaviors, judgment and external views), the benefits of the presence of the animal will also extend to the rest of the child. family.
It is particularly observed that following the arrival of an animal in the family, parents have less anxiety and stress. More generally, the presence of an animal would also contribute to better family functioning in homes of children with ASD.
Despite all these potential benefits, it is important not to view the animal as a “magic pill”. Indeed, different research tells us that these effects depend directly on the attachment and the quality of the relationship that the child with ASD establishes with the animal.
However, like children without ASD, not all children with ASD have the same attraction towards animals, just as not all children develop the same relationship with their animal. The type of interaction that takes place, the degree of attachment to the animal or the child’s autonomy in caring for it vary.
Thus, families of children with ASD wishing to integrate an animal would do well to ensure, before taking the plunge, whether their child is attracted or desired. It would also be wise to check that the animal being considered has an adequate profile for their child, whether in terms of behavior in relation to the child’s needs or personality compatibility.
This would maximize the chances of a strong relationship being established within the duo formed by the child and his animal, thus optimizing the chances of success and the emergence of benefits.
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