Effects of Dog-Assisted Therapy on Communication and Basic Social Skills of Adults With Intellectual Disabilities: A Pilot Study.

Scorzato et al. (2017) ran a 20-week dog-assisted therapy program for adults with severe-profound intellectual disability. Half the adults got weekly dog sessions. The other half got no extra treatment. Staff tracked attention, play, imitation, and basic social skills.

The dog group made medium gains in paying attention, copying others, and simple social moves. The no-treatment group stayed the same. Skills did not improve across the board—only some areas moved.

Anonymous (2017) is the French summary of the same study, so the positive result shows up twice. Dudley et al. (2019) extends the idea to kids: just 10 minutes with a dog boosted talking and eye contact in 6- to 8-year-old autistic inpatients. Jorgenson et al. (2020) looks like a contradiction at first: only 1 of 5 preschoolers with autism talked more when dog time was used as reinforcement. The difference is in how the dog was used. Ivano gave structured weekly sessions; Jorgenson offered short dog access only after the child spoke. Brief contingent access is weaker than a full program.

If you serve adults with severe ID, a weekly dog-assisted session can be an easy add-on. You do not need fancy equipment—just a trained therapy dog and a 20-week plan. Start with short visits and track attention and imitation. Pair the dog with your usual prompting so gains last when the dog leaves.