Therapist’s Views on the Effects of Animal Assisted Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

You are invited to participate in a voluntary survey to study the effectiveness of animal assisted therapy (AAT) as an intervention strategy for children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

ASD is defined to include:

• Typical autism
• Asperger’s syndrome
• Pervasive Developmental Disorders with “autistic like” behaviors

AAT is defined to include the use of animals as an intervention strategy to achieve individual or group goals during therapy sessions. The results of this survey will be used to describe the type of functional problems observed in children with ASD, the frequency which these problems are addressed during therapy and rate the provider’s perception on the effectiveness of AAT as an intervention strategy in achieving goal’s for therapy.

Requirements for participation in this study include current or previous experience in pediatrics, including children diagnosed with ASD, along with current or previous experience using AAT as an intervention strategy to achieve individual or group goals for therapy.

All information related to the identity of the study participants is confidential. The email addresses of the study participants will be deleted upon arrival at the following address otaat@stkate.edu. Any information which would identify you will be removed from surveys before they are analyzed. The researcher will not know who responds to this survey.

Responding to this survey implies your willingness to participate in this project. You may decide to not respond to a question or stop the survey if you desire. All responses are voluntary.

For further information regarding this study please contact Professor John Fleming, thesis advisor at (651) 690-6951, Julie O’Neill, OTS researcher at (651) 433-5959 or Kurt Olson, IRB (651) 690- 6529 at the College of St. Catherine.

Thank you for your participation in this study to further the knowledge of the profession of occupational therapy.

Sincerely,

 

Julie O’Neill (OTS)

Survey