Research summaries for autism therapy: animal-assisted therapy (AAT)

definition of animal-assisted therapy (AAT): A form of therapy that uses animals to help improve social skills, communication, and as a motivator to modify behavior. Animals most commonly used in therapy are dogs, horses, rabbits, and other small animals.
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Task Interspersal and Performance of Matching Tasks by Preschoolers with Autism, Summarized Oct 28, 2009

Children with autism learned tasks better when opportunities for success were mixed with challenges.

Three children (3 to 5 years old) participated in this study. Children were asked to correctly identify letters, numbers, or pictures of animals. A token was given for a correct answer. The children needed to earn 12 tokens during a session in order to play at a child-selected activity after the session.... Read more...

Social Training of Autistic Children with Interactive Intelligent Agents, Summarized Jul 30, 2009

Robots and technological toys may help teach social skills to children with autism.... Some blocks were "animals" and some were "food" or "water" that children "gave" to animals by moving that block close to the animal block. Pairs of children worked together to make the "zoo" run smoothly.... Read more...

Life Begins on an Ant Farm for Two Patients with Asperger’s Syndrome, Summarized Dec 30, 2008

Ant farms may be a useful tool for helping people with Asperger syndrome learn about social structure.

This article is a case study of two people with Asperger syndrome who were given a treatment program of animal therapy combined with psychotherapy. At the start of the study, neither patient knew how to relate to others. One patient was a man who came from a strong and noisy family. One patient was an eight-year-old boy who came from a quiet family. Ants were helpful to both of them as a symbol and concrete presence to move psychotherapy treatment forward. Read more...

The Vasopressin System – From Antidiuresis to Psychopathology, Summarized Sep 26, 2008

Drugs that target the vasopressin system of the body may some day be helpful in the treatment of autism.

This reviews article describes the role of the brain chemical vasopressin in autism. When vasopressin levels were changed in animal studies, the animals sometimes showed signs of autism. Human gene studies have shown that some of the genes that are linked to autism encode for the protein that binds to vasopressin (vasopressin receptor). In people with altered vasopressin receptor genes, it seems that vasopressin levels are normal, but the brain has trouble responding to the levels of vasopressin in the body. There are many studies underway to learn how vasopressin may cause changes in behavior. Read more...

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Synonyms for animal-assisted therapy (AAT) include: AAT, animal assisted therapy, animal assited therapy, animal care, animal therapy, animals, pet therapy
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