Enhanced social and communication adaptive behaviors linked to progress in dog training intervention stages scale among young autistic children

Background: Studies in autism that included dogs as part of the individual program documented improvements in different areas. Our previous study showed that Dog Training Intervention (DTI) for young autistic children significantly improved adaptive social and communication skills compared to a control group. This study aimed to evaluate the progression of dog training skills in young autistic children following the DTI protocol and to examine its relationship with improvements in adaptive and language skills and autistic characteristics. Methods: The study included 37 children (4 girls), aged 2:11–6:11years (M= 4:7, SD=1:0). Progress in the Dog Training Intervention (DTI) stages was analyzed using two video-recorded therapy sessions, representing the initial (T1) and final (T2) phases of the DTI program. Results: All participants except one exhibited an increase on the DTI stages scale, from T1 (M=6.10, SD=0.3) to T2 (M=12.32, SD=0.48) across 17 stages. A significant positive correlation emerged between the rise in DTI stages and improvements in social adaptive behaviors (r = 0.46, p = 0.002). Additionally, higher IQ scores and less pronounced autistic characteristics were associated with greater progress in the DTI stages, explaining 43 % of the variance in the change in DTI stage scores. Conclusions: These results highlight the dog training intervention program as an effective supplementary treatment alongside standard interventions provided by professionals in special education schools for autistic children.