Graduation Year
2005
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.A.
Degree Granting Department
Applied Behavior Analysis
Major Professor
Trevor Stokes, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Jennifer Austin, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Holly Steele, Ph.D.
Keywords
Developmental disorders, Animals, Communication, Therapy, Classroom
Abstract
The effects of the presence of a dog on the social interactions between children with developmental disabilities and their teacher were analyzed in this study. We examined whether the presentation of a dog would improve the social interactions of three children with developmental disabilities. A baseline condition consisting of the child and teacher in the presence of three toys, one of which was a toy dog was followed by an intervention in which a real dog was added to the sessions. A multiple baseline design across participants was employed to assess experimental changes in interactions during the intervention condition.
All participants demonstrated an increase in overall positive initiated behaviors (verbal and non-verbal), positive initiated interactions toward the teacher (verbal and non-verbal) and positive initiated interactions toward the dog (verbal and non-verbal). The children also showed an overall decrease in negative initiated behaviors (verbal and nonverbal). Two of the three participants demonstrated a decrease in negative initiated interactions toward their teacher (verbal and non-verbal), while with one participant there was a slight increase in negative non-verbal interactions toward the teacher. All three children showed slight increases in negative initiated non-verbal interactions with the dog while negative initiated verbal interactions toward the dog remained the same.
Scholar Commons Citation
Walters, Stephanie, "The Effects Of The Presence Of A Dog On The Social Interactions Of Children With Developmental Disabilities" (2005). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/902
