An autism assistance dog or autism service dog is an assistance dog trained to assist an autistic person manage their disability and live more independently.
An autism assistance dog or autism service dog is an assistance dog trained to assist an autistic person manage their disability and live more independently.
The first autism assistance dog was trained by Chris Fowler, who founded the first organization worldwide called National Service Dogs in 1996. He placed a dog named Shade with an autistic child in 1997. Autism is a lifelong disability with characteristics that vary from person to person. [1] [2] Training for autism assistance dogs is similar to guide dog training. [3] Autism assistance dogs usually cost between $12,000 and $30,000. There is often a long wait list for autism assistant dogs. [4] [5]
Anecdotal evidence of the efficacy of autism assistance dogs is greater than the amount of research on the practice. [6] Without objective standards, it can be difficult for parents, caregivers, and educators to make a case for the need for autism assistance dogs. [7]
Autism assistance dogs are trained to perform specific tasks to help their owners live independently and navigate the world. Autism assistant dogs often perform tasks like DPT (Deep Pressure Therapy), back/front block, crowd control, alerting to sounds such as timers or a fire alarm, medication reminders, self-injury interruption, retrieving dropped items and other tasks to help calm anxiety, prevent sensory overload or underwhelm, ensure safety and assist in daily living.
The primary focus of an autism assistance dog for a child is to protect the safety of the children they work with. [3] For example, autism assistance dogs are sometimes trained to prevent children with autism from leaving the house unsupervised. [8] When autism assistance dogs are paired with children, the dog often takes commands from the parents, not the child. [3] Autism assistance dogs also alert parents of dangerous situations regarding the children they work with. [9] Autism assistance dogs can help open the door for children and keep them from becoming overstimulated or understimulated. [10]
Some children with autism have been reported to have an increased sense of independence because of their interactions with the autism assistance dog. [11]
Sometimes a child harness—attached to an autism assistance dog—is worn by the autistic child. There recently has been controversy over this, due to the sudden force put on the dog as well as it preventing the child from escaping distressing situations such as an unpredictable attack from an untrained dog (this is common for handlers). [12]
Dogs may be trained to alert their handler to important noises or other things requiring human intervention, such as smoke or a smoke alarm, a crying baby, a telephone ringing, or a knock at the door. For a person with autism, it may not be immediately obvious which of the many external stimuli is the urgent one requiring their immediate attention. People with autism may not recognize urgency and be unable to react in situations, thus this task is extremely important. A person with autism may have difficulty migrating a heavily stimulating environment and become uneasy. This uneasiness may cause a loss of balance, panic attacks, melt downs, and an over-stimulation episode all of which are very distressing for everyone around and the individual themselves. A dog can assist by providing a trained sensory input such as putting pressure on the tissue, licking, and even grounding. Autism assistance dogs provide this "grounding" by sitting on their feet, applying pressure when the owner is anxious or overwhelmed. Autistic individuals on the spectrum may also experience getting lost when traveling in a party or with another person. Often they find themselves unable to reconnect with people and even finding it difficult to ask for help. Some autism assistance dogs have training in tracking people through scent which may aid in wandering. Some people with autism have to leave an area that's too overwhelming for them and assistance dogs can help guide them to an exit and provide on command services to help them once in a safe area. Dogs who are trained can significantly aid in the life of someone with autism. Autism in an incurable mental condition that needs accommodations no matter the age, some may need lots of support while others can seemingly blend it, wherever on the spectrum, we all need accommodations.
Guide dogs are assistance dogs trained to lead blind or visually impaired people around obstacles. Although dogs can be trained to navigate various obstacles, they are red–green colour blind and incapable of interpreting street signs. The human does the directing, based on skills acquired through previous mobility training. The handler might be likened to an aircraft's navigator, who must know how to get from one place to another, and the dog is the pilot, who gets them there safely. In several countries guide dogs, along with most other service and hearing dogs, are exempt from regulations against the presence of animals in places such as restaurants and public transportation.
An assistance dog is a dog that receives specialized training to aid an individual with a disability in navigating everyday life. Many assistance dogs receive training from a handler or from an assistance dog organization.
A hearing dog is a type of assistance dog specifically selected and trained to assist people who are deaf or hard of hearing by alerting their handler to important sounds, such as doorbells, smoke alarms, ringing telephones, or alarm clocks. They may also work outside the home, alerting their handler to sounds such as sirens, forklifts, and a person calling the handler's name.
A therapy dog is a dog that is trained to provide affection, comfort and support to people, often in settings such as hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, libraries, hospices, or disaster areas. In contrast to assistance dogs, which are trained to assist specific patients with their day-to-day physical needs, therapy dogs are trained to interact with all kinds of people, not just their handlers.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to autism:
A seizure response dog (SRD) is a dog demonstrating specific assisting behaviour during or immediately after a person's epileptic seizure or other seizure. When reliably trained such dogs can serve as service dogs for people with epilepsy.
Autism therapies include a wide variety of therapies that help people with autism, or their families. Such methods of therapy seek to aid autistic people in dealing with difficulties and increase their functional independence.
A mobility assistance dog or mobility service dog is a dog trained to assist a physically disabled person who has mobility issues, such as poor balance or being a non-ambulatory wheelchair user. Roles include "providing balance and stability" picking up and carrying objects, pulling wheelchairs, opening and closing doors, and operating light switches. Mobility assistance dogs can have significant positive impacts on the lives of their handlers.
Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is an alternative or complementary type of therapy that includes the use of animals in a treatment. The goal of this animal-assisted intervention is to improve a patient's social, emotional, or cognitive functioning. Studies have documented some positive effects of the therapy on subjective self-rating scales and on objective physiological measures such as blood pressure and hormone levels.
A psychiatric assistance dog or psychiatric service dog is a sub-category of assistance dog trained to assist their handler with a psychiatric disability or a mental disability, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder.
Canine Companions for Independence is a US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that trains and provides assistance dogs. As of 2018, it has placed over 6,000 assistance dogs with recipients at no charge.
Societal and cultural aspects of autism or sociology of autism come into play with recognition of autism, approaches to its support services and therapies, and how autism affects the definition of personhood. The autistic community is divided primarily into two camps; the autism rights movement and the pathology paradigm. The pathology paradigm advocates for supporting research into therapies, treatments, and/or a cure to help minimize or remove autistic traits, seeing treatment as vital to help individuals with autism, while the neurodiversity movement believes autism should be seen as a different way of being and advocates against a cure and interventions that focus on normalization, seeing it as trying to exterminate autistic people and their individuality. Both are controversial in autism communities and advocacy which has led to significant infighting between these two camps. While the dominant paradigm is the pathology paradigm and is followed largely by autism research and scientific communities, the neurodiversity movement is highly popular among most autistic people, within autism advocacy, autism rights organizations, and related neurodiversity approaches have been rapidly growing and applied in the autism research field in the last few years.
A medical response dog is an assistance dog trained to assist an individual who has a medical disability. Typically, they are dogs whose job does not handle primarily epilepsy or psychiatric-based conditions, though some seizure response dogs or psychiatric service dogs may also be referred to as medical response.
Service animals are working animals that have been trained to perform tasks that assist disabled people. Service animals may also be referred to as assistance animals or helper animals depending on the country and the animal's function. Dogs are the most common service animals, having assisted people since at least 1927.
An emotional support animal (ESA) is an animal that provides relief to individuals with "psychiatric disability through companionship." Emotional support animals are not required to be trained. Any animal that provides support, comfort, or aid, to an individual through companionship, unconditional positive regard, and affection may be regarded as an emotional support animal.
A diabetic alert dog is an assistance dog trained to detect high (hyperglycemia) or low (hypoglycemia) levels of blood sugar in humans with diabetes and alert their owners to dangerous changes in blood glucose levels. This allows their owners to take steps to return their blood sugar to normal, such as using glucose tablets, sugar, and carbohydrate-rich food. The dog can prompt a human to take insulin.
NEADS Inc. is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit program that provides trained service dogs to people who have physical disabilities or who are deaf or hearing impaired; veterans with PTSD; and children with autism or other developmental disabilities.
Freedom Service Dogs is a Denver, Colorado–based charitable organization devoted to training dogs as service dogs for people with disabilities that include multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, spinal-cord injury, PTSD, and more. The organization began a small-scale breeding program in 2019 to increase the number of people it could help.
Autism-friendly means being aware of social engagement and environmental factors affecting people on the autism spectrum, with modifications to communication methods and physical space to better suit individual's unique and special needs.
Equine-assisted therapy or equine-assisted therapy on autistic people is a therapy using a mediating horse or pony. A session can take place on foot or on horseback. Equine-assisted therapy is one of the few animal-assisted therapies regularly studied for its effectiveness, and the most popular of all autism therapies.
