Jan Hoffman, a writer for the New York Times, published an article titled "Guinea Pigs Are Autistic Children's Best Friends" on the 29th June 2015. This article discusses a study conducted in 2015 by Marguerite E. O'Haire and several others, as part of a larger project, and includes quotes from several experts in the field. I immediately disliked the title of this piece for using the term “autistic child,” which essentially reduces these children to nothing more than their diagnosis. Looking beyond the unpleasant title, however, Hoffman does a fairly good job of accurately describing the research he cites, as well as mentioning the implications of the findings, without overstating them. Hoffman begins the piece with a few sentences that mention In the larger study, it is specifically mentioned that guinea pigs were chosen because they are "diurnal, relatively easy to handle and care for, generally enjoy being held, and rarely bite." (O'Haire, 163-164) Hoffman mentions the four conditions that existed in the skin conductance study: reading silently, reading aloud, playing with toys, and interacting with guinea pigs. The study consisted of a sample of 99 children, 33 with autism spectrum disorder, aged between 5 and 12 years, enrolled in a mainstreaming class. The fact that this study consisted of a good-sized sample and took place in a fairly natural environment – ​​the classroom – is a strength of the research. Three children were involved in each session, one with autism spectrum disorder and two peers with typical development. He says the first three tasks made children with autism spectrum disorder anxious, but interacting with the guinea pigs reduced their excitement. In my opinion this may have been his way of subtly suggesting that this is one of the first studies to use physiological response to measure how animals influence children with autism spectrum disorders. It's actually only the second study to do so, while the first study looked at waking cortisol levels to determine the stress levels of children with autism spectrum disorder with and without a service dog in the room..