Changes in social functioning and engagement during canine-assisted intervention for children with neurodevelopmental disorders in the context of an early intervention service.
A 24-week canine-assisted program lifted social engagement for toddlers with autism or delay.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Ávila-Álvarez et al. (2022) ran a 24-week canine-assisted program for toddlers with autism or global delay.
Kids came to an early-intervention center each week and worked with a trained dog and therapist.
Staff tracked social skills and engagement before and after the full course.
What they found
Social functioning and engagement rose with medium-to-large gains after the 24 sessions.
Parents and therapists noticed the children talked, played, and looked more with others.
How this fits with other research
Ben-Itzchak et al. (2021) showed similar gains when preschoolers trained dogs at school, but their crossover design let each child serve as his own baseline.
Polak-Passy et al. (2024) extended the idea to older preschoolers and added a 17-stage child-as-trainer plan; they saw mixed results—non-verbal skills up, yet some self-started eye contact dropped.
Clay et al. (2023) warn that not every child likes dogs; they used a quick preference test and found one third of kids cared little for the animal, so check liking first.
Together the papers say dogs can help social growth, but age, setting, and child preference shape the outcome.
Why it matters
If you serve toddlers in an EI center, a structured dog program can be a powerful add-on. Run Clay’s 2-minute preference check first. Then map Adriana’s 24-session outline onto your week. Track social bids and shared engagement each visit so you know the dog is helping, not just cute.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
PURPOSE: The objectives were to evaluate the feasibility of early implementation of a canine-assisted intervention (CAI) for children with neurodevelopmental disorders, and to determine the changes in social functioning and in engagement experienced by the participants. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A CAI consisting of 24 sessions was piloted in an intra-subject quasi-experimental longitudinal design. The outcome measures were the Assessment of Communication and Interaction Skills (ACIS) and Individual Child Engagement Record-Revised (ICER-R). RESULTS: No adverse events or side-effects were noted. The sample consisted of 44 participants (median age 37 months). A total of 33 children (75%) attended all sessions. Main results showed that after completing the intervention, the overall ACIS score improved significantly (p < 0.001); the effect size was large. There was a significant improvement in the scales of the ICER-R from baseline to the final assessment: overall engagement (p < 0.001), frequency of repetitive behaviours (p < 0.001), frequency of interaction between the child and adults (p < 0.001), and the quality of this interaction (p < 0.001); the effect sizes ranged from medium to large. CONCLUSIONS: The early application was feasible. The results in the areas of social functioning and engagement suggest that this CAI may be a useful complementary strategy in early therapeutic intervention with these children. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS?: The results of implementation of a canine-assisted intervention (CAI) at an early therapeutic intervention unit for children with neurodevelopmental disorders are not known. This research supported the feasibility and positive impact of a CAI in a population consisting of children with neurodevelopmental disorders in the earliest stages of their life, with similar proportions of participants with global developmental delay and autism spectrum disorder. The study was pioneering in the development of this form of actions in an early intervention service for children with these health conditions. The intervention appears feasible and the results extend the existing evidence base for this intervention modality. The findings suggest significant improvements of a medium to large size in the domains of communication skills and social relations, engagement levels, frequency and quality of interaction with adults and repetitive behaviours after 12 and 24 weekly CAI sessions.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2022 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2022.104216