How Dogs Can Help Children with Autism

How Dogs Can Help Children with Autism

While most people are aware of the benefits that service dogs provide for those with physical impairments, many do not realize that assistance dogs can also be trained to provide emotional support. Children with autism face challenges that most of us do not understand, and a well-trained dog can help them in multiple ways. This makes these types of service dogs very unique. Autistic children face many daily challenges, but having a dog nearby can make their lives easier. An autistic child might have difficulties with communication or socializing, but a dog makes these activities less stressful. Autism affects one in every 64 children, and it's considered to be one of the fastest-growing developmental disorders throughout the entire United States. While many children with autism often have a high IQ, they still may face a wide scope of challenges that may include the inability to properly interact with their peers and problems with learning vital life skills. Fortunately, advancements in autism research have led to many new ways to help children with this condition thrive and live their life to the fullest. One approach that is helping many autistic children is the use of very specially trained autism assistance dogs.

The Beneficial Effects of Dogs on Children With Autism

For a very long time, dogs have served as man's best friend. Our dogs are right there to protect our families, shower us with affection and attention, and offer unlimited devotion. All of these wonderful traits combined with a well-trained service dog can bring new meaning to the life of an autistic child. These are just a few of the many ways that the right dog can be of great assistance to a child with autism. Does your child have autism? If so, then a dog may bring a number of benefits to your child. Autism is a complex disorder that affects brain development. This disorder is characterized by difficulties in social interaction, sensory issues, problems with nonverbal and verbal communication and maladaptive behaviors.

Increases & Assists with Personal Safety

Many children who have autism do not have a concept of safety, and they can wander off into traffic or put themselves in harm’s way. An assistance dog is trained to help keep these children safe by having them tethered to his or her harness. A dog can also prevent self-injurious behavior by using pressure intervention, touch intervention, and mobility assistance. Because an autistic child may become overly excited and not realize that they are about to put themselves in danger, some parents are utilizing a harness that physically connects their autistic child with the assistance dog. Just as a seeing-eye dog would prevent its owner from stepping into traffic, the dog is trained to keep the child safe from harm.

Provides Social Interaction & Increases Socialization

Children with autism are ostracized frequently by classmates, but an assistance dog can increase their socialization skills. Other children will approach a classmate who has a dog on a leash to talk to them about their pet or to pet the animal. Dogs act as a constant companion to a child. This can help the child learn ways to improve social interactions and expand both nonverbal and verbal communication. Several recent studies showed that dogs can increase social skills, confidence, assertiveness and independence in children with autism. The Journal of Pediatric Nursing found that dogs provide children with Autism the ability to learn about companionship and responsibility. This is significant as kids with autism have difficulty connecting to the world. Learning how to be a companion can help them form important connections with others. It decrease social withdrawal and encourages the child to interact with others.

Improves Coping Ability with Emotions

Most children with autism struggle with coping with stress an emotion. They cannot cope with negative emotions easily and tend to act out behaviorally when frustrated. A dog can help provide a sense of security and decrease meltdowns and acts of aggression. It can also help the child face things that they are afraid of. Kids with autism are often afraid of new situations or changes in routine. A dog can help a child with autism face these situations and cope by being a constant companion throughout difficult times. A primary issue of children with autism is the tendency to become overwhelmed with sensory input from everything that they see, smell, or hear. Having the dog to focus on can take their attention away from what is upsetting them, and allow them to calm down while petting or hugging the animal.

Help Sort Out Sensory Input

Autistic individuals often have issues with sensory overload. They smell, feel, and hear everything all at once, which can be very overwhelming to deal with.  A canine companion can be reassuring and calming for the child and help provide a way to ground their environmental experiences. Dogs can help lower the daily fears and stresses that autistic children go through.

Touch Intervention

Some autistic children may display repetitive or self-injurious behaviors, and these dogs are taught to intervene if it gets out of hand. The dog will use its nose to touch the child and apply pressure until the behavior is discontinued or a parent or caretaker intervenes.

Connect Children to the World Around Them

One of the most important things that a service dog can provide to autistic children is social interaction. Many of the children get overwhelmed in crowds, and the dog provides a gentleness and kindness that helps the children cope. An assistance dog is also great for building confidence in certain situations, especially when other kids are involved. Rather than stare and make fun of an autistic child, other kids are more likely to be drawn to the dog and consequently engage in conversation and play. With a dog’s natural patience and unconditional love, autistic children learn to cope better in uncomfortable situations. The dog’s support can encourage these kids to work through struggles and try things that they were afraid to take on in the past.

Helps with Motor Skills

Motor skills development often lags behind in children with autism. They may struggle with participating in recreational activities due to motor skills deficits. A specially trained dog can help encourage a child with autism to get exercise by going on walks. This can help improve motor skills.

Releasing Tension

When a child is feeling tense with symptoms such as withdrawal from others, a therapy dog can sense what is happening. A dog might place its paws in the child’s lap to reduce their stress levels and to bring a child out of their isolated behavior.

Reduction in Acting Out

In some cases, an autistic child will act out in a classroom or social environment, but with a dog resting calmly at their feet, the child also acts calm. When an autistic child is not acting out with inappropriate behavior, they are able to remain in a social environment or classroom.

Keeping a Child On-Task

If an autistic child is easily distracted from remaining on an assigned task, then an assistance dog can help them to remain alert. By staying alert and not loosing track of time, a child is able to complete schoolwork or household chores in the correct amount of time.

Retrieving Items

An autistic child might have a habit of dropping papers or pencils in the classroom, but an assistance dog will retrieve these items to help keep a child in their chair rather than walking frequently around a classroom.

Avoiding Dangers

It is possible to teach an assistance dog to help its autistic owner with activities, such as getting on and off a school bus or crossing a busy street.

What Experts Recommend

Experts are now recommending that many autistic children have a therapeutic animal nearby to reduce their anxiousness and increase their socializing abilities. A specially trained service dog can be a great companion for a child with autism. Dogs provide a number of benefits for kids with autism. They help increase social interactions, responsibility and physical activity.

How Dogs Can Help Children with Autism

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