University of Northern Colorado Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC Dissertations Student Research 5-1-2015 The ffecE ts of Animal Assisted Therapy on Tantrums and Aggressive Behaviors of Children with Autism Rebecca L. Jesionowicz Follow this and additional works at: http://digscholarship.unco.edu/dissertations Recommended Citation Jesionowicz, Rebecca L., "The Effects of Animal Assisted Therapy on Tantrums and Aggressive Behaviors of Children with Autism" (2015). Dissertations. 27. http://digscholarship.unco.edu/dissertations/27 This Text is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. © 2015 REBECCA L. JESIONOWICZ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO Greeley, Colorado The Graduate School THE EFFECTS OF ANIMAL ASSISTED THERAPY ON TANTRUMS AND AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIORS OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Rebecca L. Jesionowicz College of Education and Behavioral Sciences Applied Psychology and Counselor Education School Psychology May 2015 This Dissertation by: Rebecca L. Jesionowicz Entitled: The Effects of Animal Assisted Therapy on Tantrums and Aggressive Behaviors of Children with Autism has been approved as meeting the requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in College of Education and Behavioral Sciences in School of Applied Psychology and Counselor Education, Program of School Psychology Accepted by the Doctoral Committee ____________________________________________________ Michelle Athanasiou, Ph.D., Research Advisor ____________________________________________________ Achilles Bardos, Ph.D., Committee Member ____________________________________________________ Corey Pierce, Ph.D., Committee Member ____________________________________________________ Tracy Gershwin Mueller, Ph.D., Faculty Representative Date of Dissertation Defense . Accepted by the Graduate School ____________________________________________________________ Linda L. Black, Ed.D., LPC Dean of the Graduate School and International Admissions ABSTRACT Jesionowicz, Rebecca L. The Effects of Animal Assisted Therapy on Tantrums and Aggressive Behaviors of children with Autism . Published Doctor of Philosophy dissertation, University of Northern Colorado, 2015. This study investigated the influence of Animal Assisted Therapy on three elementary school boys’ with Autism Spectrum Disorder emotional regulation. The children participated in 12 Animal Assisted Therapy sessions using the Mutt-i-grees Curriculum with a therapy dog over the course of 6-8 weeks. A non-concurrent multiple- baseline-across-participants design was used to examine how the intervention affected the frequency, intensity, and duration of tantrums and the frequency and intensity of aggressive behaviors. Tantrums and aggressive behaviors were used as indicators of emotional dysregulation. There was minimal evidence that indicated that Animal Assisted Therapy might decrease the duration of tantrum behaviors and the intensity of aggressive behaviors. Overall, the results did not suggest that Animal Assisted Therapy had a positive effect on the participants’ temper tantrums and aggressive behaviors. Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, animal assisted therapy, emotional regulation, tantrums, aggression. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are so many people I would like to thank for supporting and encouraging me through this whole process. First of all, I would like to thank my family for their unconditional love and support through this process. To my kids, thank you for making me want to be a better person and reach for the stars. To my husband, Jeremy Jesionowicz, I know these past few years have been very stressful and time consuming. Thank you for putting up with me and never letting me give up. I look forward to the next chapter in our life. I would like to thank my committee members, Dr. Athanasiou, Dr. Bardos, Dr. Pierce, and Dr. Mueller for their support and guidance. I am especially grateful to Dr. Koehler-Hak. Thank you for believing in me! Without your continuous encouragement and mentorship, I would not have made it through this process. To my dearest friends, Jessica Byrd and Shanda Crowder, I do not have the words to express how much I am grateful for the both of you. I feel like we have been through hell and back together and somehow managed to have good times along the way. Thank you for the late night study groups. Thank you for the delicious dinners (actually I think you should be thanking me for those). Thank you for listening to me rant during the hard times and celebrating with me during the good times. Thank you for the memories! We did it! iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................1 General Statement ........................................................................................1 Emotional Regulation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder................................................................................4 Interventions ....................................................................................8 Animal Assisted Therapy .................................................................9 Animal Assisted Therepy for Autism ............................................11 Statement of the Problem ...........................................................................12 Rationale ....................................................................................................14 Statement of the Purpose ...........................................................................15 Research Questions ....................................................................................15 Delimitations ..............................................................................................16 Definitions of Terms ..................................................................................17 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ..........................................................................19 Autism Spectrum Disorder ........................................................................19 Emotional Regulation ................................................................................25 Interventions for Emotional Regulation| of Children with Autism ...........31 Animal Assisted Therapy ...........................................................................35 History of Animals in Therapy ..................................................................38 Animal Assisted Therapy as an Intervention for Individuals with Autism ............................................................................................40 Animal Assisted Therapy as an Intervention for Emotional Regulation ......................................................................................42 Animal Assisted Therapy as an Intervention for Externalizing Behaviors .......................................................................................44 v CHAPTER III. METHOD ..................................................................................................49 Research Design.........................................................................................49 Participants .................................................................................................50 Instrumentation ..........................................................................................51 Temper Tantrum Grid ....................................................................51 Overt Aggression Scale..................................................................53 Procedures ..................................................................................................55 Materials Specific to Animal Assisted Therapy ............................55 Pre-data Collection Procedures ......................................................61 Baseline Procedures .......................................................................63 Intervention Procedures .................................................................63 Data Analysis .............................................................................................64 Research Questions ....................................................................................66 IV. RESULTS ..................................................................................................68 Treatment Integrity ....................................................................................69 Interobserver Agreement ...........................................................................70 Frequency of Tantrum Behaviors ..............................................................70 Intensity of Tantrum Behaviors .................................................................75 Duration of Tantrum Behaviors .................................................................80 Frequency of Aggressive Behaviors ..........................................................85 Intensity of Aggressive Behaviors .............................................................92 V. DISCUSSION ............................................................................................99 Overview of the Study ...............................................................................99