Pet Theory

RACHEL WOOLLEY: Welcome to a day out with the Woolleys.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Rachel Woolley is the mother of Jake and Cooper - two good-looking twin boys six years old and unusually, both are autistic.

RACHEL WOOLLEY: I call these moments...challenging.

CHARLES WOOLEY: This is the video diary of a desperate housewife. With two autistic boys, a simple excursion is only ever moments from chaos.

RACHEL WOOLLEY: I hate seeing them like this, there's nothing I can do to help them. It's awful. There's nothing I can do, as a mother I can't do anything.

CHARLES WOOLEY: After years of struggling to connect with her boys, trying to break into their impenetrable autistic world, Rachel was desperate. Did you know at the beginning of all this how strong you would turn out to be? Because you are. It calls upon inner reserves that no-one would know they had as a parent.

RACHEL WOOLLEY: It does. It does. I just think that my love for them is so strong that I'll never give up on them.

CHARLES WOOLEY: But then a remarkable breakthrough appeared in the amiable form of Albert the Labrador. Albert's a specially-trained Autism Assistance Dog. And safely harnessed to their new best friend, the boys' behaviour is much different. They've gone from this - to this.

RACHEL WOOLLEY: They are so well-behaved with Albert. Jake's anxiety is gone, so Albert's relieved all that anxiety and tension. He's a different boy - you can see for yourself. They have an amazing bond. It's funny 'cause they won't look into my eyes and if you try and get eye contact with them they'll do fleeting eye contact, but with Albert they grab his face and they want Albert to look into their eyes.

CHARLES WOOLEY: When they look into the dog's eyes, you're not jealous or envious? You're grateful, aren't you?

RACHEL WOOLLEY: I am. I am. I'm grateful.

CHARLES WOOLEY: As I was to discover, the connection some believe we have with the animal world is being used more and more as a therapy for autistic kids. It even has a name - anthrozoology - the study of the relationship between people and animals. Call it the 'pet theory'. It's new and experimental, but some experts think it offers a lot of hope.

PROFESSOR TONY ATTWOOD: As a parent you want anything that works. You want to help your child, you want to make them happy. And one of the things that can make them happy is an animal.

CHARLES WOOLEY: So you would recommend this?

PROFESSOR TONY ATTWOOD: Oh absolutely, yes.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Professor Tony Attwood is Australia's leading autism expert. He's convinced there is some mysterious link and a helpful one.

PROFESSOR TONY ATTWOOD: It's a sense of engagement. If you can't understand people, you might be able to understand and relate to an animal.

CHARLES WOOLEY: There were times when we were filming this, I must say, that it does seem just a little bit wacky to me.

PROFESSOR TONY ATTWOOD: It's not wacky, it's part of human nature of relating to animals. So I think, really, what we've got to do is look at what will help that individual, refine it, improve it, it's not going to cure autism, but it might make their day.

CHARLES WOOLEY: This was Rowan Isaacson in the frightening grip of an autistic tantrum. For years, Rowan's parents, Rupert and Kristin, tried every conventional therapy available near their Texas home but nothing would stop the autistic storm.

RUPERT ISAACSON: It's like the inner wall of your skull is being grated. I mean, you go out of your mind sometimes.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Just when it seemed like there would be no end to their torment a chance encounter with a neighbour's horse called Betsy improved their lives dramatically. For the first time in years, Rowan's hysteria was replaced by blessed calm.

RUPERT ISAACSON: The first time I asked him if he wanted to get up he gave me his first-ever really lucid response - he said, "Up." And at the time, back when he was that young, I mean that was revolutionary for him I was like, "God I can't believe this."

CHARLES WOOLEY: Before long, Rowan began talking coherently.

ROWAN ISAACSON: He's a nice horse.

CHARLES WOOLEY: And remarkably, his capacity for concentration and learning vastly improved. This horse, Betsy, was the beginning of it all.

RUPERT ISAACSON: Yes, she was. I basically owe everything, everything that's positive in our life right now, to this animal here. What I found was that when Rowan was on the horse the learning receptors of his brain were so active that you could use that time. So that was a great revelation to me and then it was like, "Oh, I see, the horse itself can be a classroom."

PROFESSOR TONY ATTWOOD: One of the things that horses will do is give a sense of rhythm, and in the research on autism we notice that there's a lack of internal rhythm. So, if there's the rhythm of a horse and the person is relaxed, they coordinate their movements not only to speak but also to concentrate. So you get better progress with the programs that you're introducing.

CHARLES WOOLEY: So the act of riding that stimulates the balance centres of the brain may, at the same time, stimulate other things?

PROFESSOR TONY ATTWOOD: Yes.

CHARLES WOOLEY: But something sceptical inside me says, "Where's the science? "Where can you demonstrate this over and over again "and prove it to be true?"

PROFESSOR TONY ATTWOOD: I think it's a question of waiting. Eventually the research, I think, will show that there's something going on. But the lack of research shouldn't stop us trying and seeing if it works for an individual.

CHARLES WOOLEY: And now the pet theory is expanding to new horizons. pause Declan Pentecost's mum, Kim, has brought him to the north coast of NSW in the hope an encounter with dolphins can soothe his constant frustration.

KIM PENTECOST: Their minds work in different ways and you need to find different things to wake their mind up or find things that they are interested in and that they can go on with in life.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Try things that even your sceptical mind might tell you can't really be so.

KIM PENTECOST: Absolutely, and if it works, it's worth it.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Within seconds of spotting a pod of dolphins, Declan is a seemingly different kid.

KIM PENTECOST: Where are they? Over there.

DECLAN PENTECOST: We've got the big dolphin!

CHARLES WOOLEY: He's attentive, focused and best of all - no longer raging. How happy is he?

KIM PENTECOST: He's very happy.

CHARLES WOOLEY: I have children and nothing would be a worse affliction, I can imagine, than seeing them unhappy.

KIM PENTECOST: This is ecstatic! This is great. We try to do everything we can to give him a good life and a happy life and this is certainly an experience.

CHARLES WOOLEY: He's just a normal kid, isn't he?

KIM PENTECOST: Today, he's a normal kid enjoying the dolphins.

PROFESSOR TONY ATTWOOD: I think this is what we used to call the sixth sense, which as humans we may have lost, but animals may have.

CHARLES WOOLEY: You are a scientist, but you are happy to talk about a sixth sense?

PROFESSOR TONY ATTWOOD: Yes, I think there is a sixth sense. I think there's a sense of a meeting of intelligent minds that appraise each other. Now, that person with autism may not be able to speak but I think there is a sense of connection that occurs with a dolphin and another animal that we need to use.

CHARLES WOOLEY: For the Woolley family that connection has proved a lifesaver. Albert isn't doing this entirely by instinct, he's been specially trained by a charitable group of dog lovers called Righteous Pups.

KELLY STEVENS: So the dog is just taught to go over and disrupt that behaviour, lay here calmly like Razz is now and helps lower my blood pressure, lower my stress about sitting here talking to you right now and just makes me feel comfortable.

CHARLES WOOLEY: Kelly Stevens is currently training 30 pups. Scientists at Monash University have undertaken a study to explain why it seems to work. Will he do it for me?

KELLY STEVENS: I'm sure he would.

CHARLES WOOLEY: I'm sure throwing a sort of autistic tantrum takes no acting ability on the part of a television reporter, I can tell you. (Pretends to be distressed by yelling) Oh, it works. Thank you, I feel a lot better. That's great, isn't he lovely. Beautiful boy. Yes, I think I'll take one.

KELLY STEVENS: OK, great.

CHARLES WOOLEY: One theory why a distraught child will let an animal in and not a parent has to do with the complex way our brains read a face. Face-reading is an ability the autistic appear to lack.

PROFESSOR TONY ATTWOOD: As I look at you, your face is so animated your eyebrows move your mouth moves your eyes move various places, we have about 400 facial expressions that are there in a fraction of a second and those with autism and Asperger's say, "I can't read it." It's like presenting someone with a book in a completely foreign language.

CHARLES WOOLEY: On the other hand an animal has how many facial expressions?

PROFESSOR TONY ATTWOOD: Well, probably three or four and that's it. Animals aren't sarcastic, there is no irony, there is no double entendre. They are very direct, they show their experience very, very clearly. Humans lie. Animals don't lie!

CHARLES WOOLEY: Back in Texas, it's been four years since Rowan Isaacson connected with Betsy. He's doing well in school, is happily socialising with other kids, and at the age of seven, is finally toilet trained. His devoted dad, Rupert, can't scientifically prove the horse did it, but he's so convinced of the benefits, he's introducing other autistic kids to animal therapy.

RUPERT ISAACSON: Rohan did not get cured of his autism, the one thing we didn't expect when that diagnosis came was that autism could be a gateway to happiness. Didn't expect that.

CHARLES WOOLEY: You have gone from devastation to great pride.

RUPERT ISAACSON: Yes, I am, I'm amazed by him. I'm amazed by him.

CHARLES WOOLEY: None of the people who support the pet theory are claiming that it's an autism cure-all. But they do believe that it's an avenue of treatment worth exploring. And that it's gone a long way to making their difficult lives a lot more bearable. What Albert has given them that they didn't have is a friend.

RACHEL WOOLLEY: That's right, a friend - someone that they can love that doesn't require anything from them.

CHARLES WOOLEY: A friend that looks out for them, too.

RACHEL WOOLLEY: That's right, he does, he's like another parent for them.