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We all love looking at cute animals, but what if animals were more than just cute? What if animals could have an impact on the social lives of children with autism? Researchers from Australia and the U.S. teamed up to look into this question using guinea pigs (O’Haire, McKenzie, Beck, & Slaughter, 2013). In their study, the researchers had children with autism play with typically developing peers. Sometimes the children played with animals and sometimes they played with toys. When the children were playing with the animals they were given items to facilitate this play, such as food and brushes for the guinea pigs.  

These researchers found that levels of social interaction were higher when the children with autism were playing with the animals. They looked at the other kids more when playing with the animals. They also physically interacted more with the other children. Interestingly, the children with autism spoke more to the typically developing children when playing with the toys, perhaps suggesting that animal-based play might facilitate some types of social interaction more than others.

This research does not leave us with definitive answers about the impact of animals on individual children, but it does raise interesting questions about the interaction between children and animals. Regardless of their role in social interactions, the guinea pigs seem to have been a hit, with most of the children with autism saying they enjoyed the animals more than the toys (O’Haire, et al., 2013).

O’Haire, M.E., McKenzie, S.J., Beck, A.M., & Slaughter, V. (2013). Social Behaviors Increase in Children with Autism in the Presence of Animals Compared to Toys. PLoS ONE, 8(2). Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057010