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Want to Help Your Autistic Child? Bring Home a Service Dog

8 July 2011 56 views 151 Comments

Does your child  have difficulty  with Social interaction and communication?

Do you often find them isolated and confused?

Is it frustrating taking  them to any public place?

autistic-child
If the answer  to any of these questions is ‘yes’ then you child may benefit from special autistic programs such as therapeutic service dogs.

Many people don’t know about autism and many others  misunderstand it. Autism is a brain disorder affecting 1 in 110 children on  average. Autistic children need  a great deal of  care, support and supervision. In addition to parental care, assistance dogs are also hired to have a positive impact on autistic children.

Below is a short story mentioning how an assistance dog, Lacey, helped an autistic child, Joe, to boost  his independence and confidence levels.

How Lacey Helped Joe

At the age of around 2 years, Joe was diagnosed with autism. Because of behavioral problems, it was almost impossible to take him out. The whole family was worried by his autism. They couldn’t go out to friends, restaurants, or other public places. Then Paula, Joe’s mother, came to know about an organization in Canada which was offering service dogs to help children with autism.

After months of searching, a very attractive Labrador named Lacey was selected for Joe.

Lacey is well trained to  handle Joe. Joe is now attached to Lacey’s harness and the dog duly takes care that he doesn’t unbolt it. Whenever Joe tries to go off on his own way in market, Lacey braces  her body, keeps walking alongside Paula and Joe follows.

The remarkable bond that has  developed between the two has turned Joe’s life around significantly. Temper tantrums are now rare and he is much more confident. People who used to avoid him now often  flock to him and ask his dog’s name. Joe is  is responding to them by looks and sometimes with verbal answers also.

Joe’s is not the only such story. Many studies have been conducted to  determine what impact service dogs  have on autistic children. One research paper (Redefer, 1989) stated:

‘Results showed that this form of therapy appeared to have a strong impact in increasing pro-social behavior, however, it is impossible to explain how effects occurred.’

About Service Dogs

Service dogs are types of assistance dogs. They are highly skilled dogs used for therapeutic purposes. They are specially trained to help people with disabilities including psychological disorder, vision impairment, autism and blindness.

They are allowed to go anywhere with the owner…be it restaurants, airplanes or banks. As per laws of some countries, they can’t be denied entry anywhere their owner can go. But these laws vary from country to country. Some countries have stricter laws compared to others.

Positive Impacts These Dogs Have on Autisctic Children

•    Service dogs improve safety and security for autistic children.  They alert parents if something goes wrong.
•    They assist children to control their walking and movement. They are also helpful in developing the motor skills of autistic children by  filling water bowls , opening food containers and other similar chores .
•    Parents have reported significant changes in the behavior of dog assisted autistic children.  Some of the benefits are enhanced calmness, reduction in meltdowns, decreased anxiety and more manageable routines.
•    Service dogs help to improve the well being and quality of life of the entire family. Families  are able to make trips as the child is now safe and assisted by the dog in  activities including getting in and out of a car, overcoming obstacles such as doorways and preventing bolting behaviors.

Breeds that are helpful

Labrador Retriever: This is a very gentle and friendly breed. Apart from autistic children, these dogs are also helpful for blind and other disabled children. They make a suitable breed because it is easy to please and train them.

Golden Retriever: This breed is also one of the best breeds for assistance dogs because of their friendly temperament.

Cocker Spaniel: In smaller breeds,  these are well balanced and calm.  Because they are smaller and easy to train, they are very suitable for younger  children.

Saint Bernard: Often referred to as ‘babysitter’,  Saint Bernards are quite trustworthy, but they are large  and require more space.

Where to find Service Dogs:

If you want, you can train your own dog as service dog but that may take years of effort and time. It’s much better to a service dog which is already trained .

There are many websites  such as servicedogcentral.org which can help you out in this endeavor. Usually, these dogs are expensive, but the investment is worth seeing the positive results which these pets bring into the life of your autistic child.

Another important point is that bringing a trained service dog  into the home doesn’t mean that your supervision is not required.  An autistic child can display unpleasing behavior which, at times, may irritate the dog leading to harmful consequences.

To avoid such situations, make sure to bring a highly skilled dog   home and maintain proper care!

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