Animal-Assisted Therapy in Pediatric Autism Care Management
The use of canines as service animals for is increasing, but not all families can have a service dog in their home. We are studying to see what effect Gryffin, who is trained as a therapy and service dog specifically for autistic children, has on prosocial behavior and emotional regulation. Prosocial behaviors are those that promote interaction with others such as helping, sharing and comforting another person.
Autistic children may need guidance to develop these behaviors, and Gryffin is more than happy to help! Through games such as fetch, tug-of-war and hide-and-seek, along with other activities such as nature walks and playing puzzles, children can interact with Gryffin to enhance their verbal and nonverbal communication.
Emotional dysregulation is a common occurrence in autistic children, and Gryffin is being trained to sense emotional distress early to either distract or comfort the child. The Access4Autism director, Dr. Michele Kilmer, uses these moments to teach strategies to families and children for coping with emotional dysregulation outside of AAT sessions.
Children and caregivers can attend one 30-to-60-minute animal-assisted therapy session with Gryffin for 8 to 12 weeks, focusing specifically on identified developmental, social-emotional and adaptive functioning concerns.
The goal of this study is to develop ethical and evidence-based protocols for AAT use in ASD therapy and care management by assessing the human-animal interaction between Gryffin and pediatric participants, noting human prosocial behaviors and canine stress and affiliative behaviors.
Efficacy of a Hybrid Autism Diagnostic and Care Management Program
The age in which ASD is diagnosed in a child living in Arkansas has not significantly improved despite many campaigns directed at early identification in the state. There are many factors leading to delayed diagnosis, one of which is prolonged waiting time between referral for developmental evaluation and when the evaluation is completed.
The purpose of these studies is to assess if a hybrid program using telehealth and in-person appointments can enhance pediatric ASD identification, diagnosis and care management. Services include administering developmental and behavioral assessments, offering animal-assisted therapy sessions to promote prosocial behavior and emotional regulation, and providing care management for autistic children.
We know that parenting a child with ASD can be challenging, and we support caregivers who are navigating parenting concerns specific to ASD by offering recommendations targeted to improve identified delays and create strategies to improve academic success.
The Effect of Culture on ASD Identification, Diagnosis and Care Management
Cultural perspectives directly influence ASD identification, diagnosis and care management. For this reason, we are investigating cultural perspectives of child development among caregivers and primary care providers to uncover belief patterns that may create barriers to ASD identification and care management.
We are exploring social determinants of health that limit access to care among ethnic groups living in Northwest Arkansas and the surrounding areas to develop interventions to remove hindrances to ASD care management. We seek to identify protective and risk factors in a child’s environment that affect a caregiver’s ability to support the child’s development.
We assist caregivers in overcoming various hurdles to ASD care management and provide evidence-based parenting strategies to strengthen caregivers’ understanding of how to communicate with their autistic child. We also involve healthcare providers in this endeavor by offering the Intercultural Development Inventory to clinic staff, providing an overview of individual and organizational cultural competency. We utilize evidence-based resources to analyze structural barriers that negatively affect ASD care management in females and historically marginalized populations.
Our goal is for all children to have access to evidence-based care, no matter their race, ethnicity, age, gender or socioeconomic level.
