Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Table 12

Pet therapy in ASD.

Author	Year	Type and duration of study	Sample size	Type of intervention	Comparators	Dose	Outcome measure	Findings	Comments
Kern et al. [89]	2011	Open label; Duration: 12 months	(M 18; F 6); Age: 3–12 years	Horse riding	Waiting list	60 min lesson once a week	CARS, the Timberlawn Parent-Child Interaction Scale, SP	Improvement in CARS	Open label design; No blinding; Waiting list lasts for three months; Unclear drop-out rate
O’Haire et al. [90]	2014	Open label; Duration: 8 weeks	(M 50; F 14); Age: 5–12 years	Pet therapy with Guinea pig	Waiting list	Two 20-minute sessions weekly	PDDBI, SSRS	Improvement in all outcome measures	Open label design; No blinding

ASD, autism spectrum disorder; CARS, Childhood Autism Rating Scale; PDDBI, Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Behavior Inventory; SP, Sensory Profile; SSRS, Social Skills Rating System.