The effect of Thai elephant-assisted therapy program on social and maladaptive behaviors for children and adolescents with autistic spectrum disorder

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of Thai elephant-assisted therapy program on enhancing social behaviors and reducing maladaptive behaviors of children and adolescents with autistic spectrum disorder after and during receiving the program. The participants in this study were 16 autistic children and adolescents aged 8-18 years. They were selected by purposive sampling in order to participate in 2 types of the elephant-assisted therapy programs: short-term (3 weeks) and long-term (6 weeks), 8 participants in each group.

Materials and methods: The instruments of research outcome measure included 1) The scale of Independent Behavior-Revised (SIB-R) in subtests of social interaction and communication skills, and problem behaviors scale (Bruininks, Woodcock, Weatherman, & Hill, 1996) to evaluate social and maladaptive behaviors before and after the therapy program, 3) The record forms of social behaviors and maladaptive behaviors developed by the researcher team to evaluate those behaviors during receiving each program, and 3) The questionnaire of satisfaction in the therapy program.

Results: The results showed that after receiving the therapy programs of the short-term, and of the long-term, social behaviors of both groups; in total scales, and each subscale: social interaction, language comprehension, and language expression, were significantly increased (p<0.05). The changing scores of these behaviors were also significantly increased during providing each program (p<0.01). Nevertheless, the maladaptive behaviors of participants; in total behavior, asocial maladaptive behavior, and externalized maladaptive behavior were significantly reduced after receiving the short-term therapy program only (p<0.05), except in internalized maladaptive behavior (p>0.05). Furthermore, the comparison of the maladaptive behaviors of participants in each day was significantly reduced during receiving each therapy program (p<0.01). In addition, the comparisons of the social behaviors and the maladaptive behaviors’ between the groups of participants receiving the short-term and the long-term therapy programs were not significantly different both after and during interventions (p>0.05). From the questionnaire of satisfaction, it was found that most parents and teachers reported high level of satisfaction in the therapy program.

Conclusions: This 2 types of programs are applicable to increase social behaviors of autistic clients, parents can choose either the short-term or long-term therapy program; however, to reduce maladaptive behaviors of clients with autistic spectrum disorder, they may consider the short-term one.