As early as 18 months, doctors diagnosed autism with little Scotsman Fraser Booth. Now the boy is four, but until recently, even solving the simplest problems was a lot of difficulties. Fortunately, Fraser is not completely immersed in himself: unlike typical autistic patients, he is able to perceive the world around him and play like a healthy child. However, due to illness, the baby often had tantrums - he could start screaming if he was pulled out of the bathtub or turned off the TV. As you know, autism is characterized by difficulties in interacting with other people, difficulties in expressing and controlling their emotions, and repeating the same actions. Of course, the atmosphere in the house was tense, and in order to defuse her a little, the boy’s mother decided to take a cat named Billy from the shelter.
Since then, everything has changed dramatically! Now Fraser and his pet are literally inseparable. The boys became calmer, less withdrawn and less and less satisfied with tantrums. According to the mother of the child, when her son plays in the garden, the cat sits nearby all the time and watches his friend, and this very reassures Fraser. The animal somehow senses the mood of the boy and helps him cope with it. When Fraser feels bad, the pet comes and literally hugs the baby with its paws, purring affectionately at the same time. Once, when the boy was very upset, the cat sat on his lap all day. According to doctors, progress in Fraser's condition is obvious. Moreover, if this goes on, the boy will probably cope with his illness! And also the cat Billy became an invaluable assistant for Fraser's mother: earlier she had to constantly monitor her son, but she has another child - a year and a half daughter, and the mother had to literally be torn between them. Now she devotes enough time to her little daughter, knowing that next to Fraser there is a reliable nanny - the cat Billy.
This amazing fact has a completely scientific explanation. French scientists say that pets really help children with autism to adapt to social conditions: according to scientists, dogs, dolphins and horses have a positive effect on such babies. As we see, the same can be said of cats. For the study, scientists from the Hospital Research Center of Brest (France) analyzed three groups of children aged 4-5 years. In the first group, babies never had pets, in the second there were children who had lived with animals since birth, and in the third there were children whose pets appeared a few years after birth. It turned out that autistic children who had pets were more adapted to social life than babies who did not have pets. Toddlers communicating with animals are closer to their family members, more easily express emotions and control them. However, according to the head of a group of French scientists, Marina Grange, the presence of pets is also useful for healthy children: this increases self-confidence, responsibility and ability to empathy.