ABSTRACT
My journey into the field of animal-assisted intervention (AAI) was largely unplanned. Various positive experiences with animals since childhood had made me passionate about the animal world. However, I had little knowledge that this could also become a professional pursuit. While exploring options to pursue doctoral research in developmental disabilities, I chanced upon Dr. O’Haire’s article reviewing the benefits of AAI for children with autism (O’Haire, 2013). This was in 2013, and a whole new world opened up for me. Having convinced my mentors in India of the research I wished to undertake (with no prior expertise, they were highly sceptical), I plotted out my own journey—reading extensive amounts of literature and completing an advanced certification in AAI offered by the University of North Texas under the mentorship of Dr. Cynthia Chandler. To gain broader expertise in the field, both in terms of research and practise, I applied for a Fulbright grant that enabled me to be a visiting scholar at the Center for the Human-Animal Bond at Purdue under Drs. Alan Beck and Marguerite O’Haire. Subsequently, I returned to India to complete my dissertation in which I examined, using an eye tracking paradigm, the social facilitation effects of animals for children with autism.
