Can Canine-Assisted Interventions Affect the Social Behaviours of Children on the Autism Spectrum? A Systematic Review

Variability in Human-Animal Interaction Research

“…However, not only is there variation across studies in how and when this diagnosis was made, there can also be considerable phenotypic variation among individuals with the same condition (e.g., autism spectrum disorder, ASD). In a systematic review of 13 studies addressing the impact of AAI on social behaviors of children with ASD, nine different terms were used to describe participants' diagnosis and/or severity including autism spectrum disorder, autism, autistic disorder, moderate autism, early childhood autism, and atypical autism ( 45 ). Thus, it is difficult to compare results across these studies when participants' symptoms and behavioral profiles are markedly different.…”

Canine‐assisted occupational therapy for children on the autism spectrum: Parents’ perspectives

“…A recent systematic review highlighted the positive impact canine‐assisted interventions can have on children on the autism spectrum (Hill, Ziviani, Cawdell‐Smith, et al, 2019a). Benefits were found to include an increase in use of language and gesture; an increase in desired social behaviours such as waiting and following instructions; and an increase in attention and task engagement as well as an apparent increase in motivation to participate within the reported interventions.…”

“…In spite of the benefits identified by the authors, of the 13 articles exploring canine-assisted interventions with children on the autism spectrum, no studies explored the impact of the inclusion of a therapy dog within occupational therapy specifically. It was also found that within the studies exploring canine-assisted therapy, all studies explored the impact of the presence of the therapy dog alone and neglected to explore the impact on child's engagement when incorporated into specific goal-directed interventions (Hill, Ziviani, Cawdell-Smith, et al, 2019a).…”

Human-Animal Interaction Research: Progress and Possibilities

“…One such example is AAI studies with children who have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a topic which has generated a plethora of studies and two rapid cycle systematic reviews (O'Haire, 2013(O'Haire, , 2016. That said, the number of systematic reviews and meta-analyses being conducted on this topic alone (Berry et al, 2013;Davis et al, 2015;Hill et al, 2018) indicates that disciplinary journals are being saturated with articles reviewing the same small set of papers with little or no cross-referencing of the other extant literature, including other systematic reviews. Journal editors and peer reviewers need to do at least a cursory search of the literature to see if manuscripts are sufficiently different from previous publications to warrant further consideration.…”