Can ABA Help with Learning How to Take Care of Pets?

Pets can be extremely comforting for children, serving as a play buddy, a companion and a model for responsibility. There is much research that proves that pets can be great for children who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as they can bring them comfort, companionship and happiness.

Children with autism can often relate to pets in ways that they can’t relate to humans. They are non-judgmental beings who will listen to everything they have to say, and not understand that they may struggle with communication or social interaction skills.

Teaching children how to take care of pets is a great way to show them the importance of responsibility, of paying attention to the needs of others and so much more. Yet, this might be a challenge for children with autism.

By following some of the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA therapy) and integrating some of the strategies the treatment plan uses, children can learn how to take care of pets.

In this article, we’ll describe some ways this can be put into practice.

Table Of Contents

Use Visual Supports and Social Stories

Regardless of whether your family already has a pet or whether you’re thinking of getting a pet, it’s important to set your child with autism up for success. An effective way of doing that is to educate them on what to expect, as they do much better when they’re able to predict what’s going to happen.

ABA therapy does this often to help children with autism navigate changes to their daily routine, such as going to the doctor’s office or preparing to integrate into a school classroom environment.

Some of the best tools to use for this are visual supports and social stories. These can really help children on the autism spectrum understand what taking care of a pet is all about and how they can navigate this new experience.

Their ABA therapist can develop a plan that’s tailored specifically to your child and this responsibility, and then create visual tools and social stories to support it. For instance, the social stories might include a picture of your child, your family and your pet, using their actual names in the story to explain some of the responsibilities and routines that are associated with taking care of the pet.

These visual supports will help your child understand how they’re expected to behave better than simply telling them.

Break Down Responsibilities Into Smaller Steps

A key concept of ABA therapy is taking complex tasks and breaking them down into smaller steps that are easier and more manageable for children with autism. This can be done for any skill that is being taught or behavior that you want to modify.

There are various responsibilities that fall under the category of caring for a pet, and each of these can be quite complicated for a child with autism — especially if they’ve never done it before.

Giving the dog food, for example, involves knowing that it’s time for the dog to eat (or that they’re hungry), finding where the food is, bringing the food to the dog’s bowl, pouring the food into the bowl and then putting the food back where it belongs.

ABA therapists can teach this skill one step at a time, using prompts and positive reinforcement along the way to keep them engaged in learning and motivated to keep learning more. As they master one step, they can move onto the next, until they can put it all together to successfully feed the dog.

Blue Gems ABA Helps Teach Children with ABA a Wide Variety of Skills

Children with ASD can learn how to take care of pets with the help of ABA therapy. Just like any other skill or behavior modification, therapists can follow the core strategies and tools to help children understand the importance of the responsibility and how to do it properly.

At Blue Gems ABA, our team of experienced therapists work every day with children on the autism spectrum, helping them build a wide variety of skills. We craft treatment plans that are specific to each child’s unique strengths, challenges and preferences, which results in better outcomes.

To learn more, please contact us today.