Labrador Retrievers, Border Collies and Miniature Schnauzers are among the best therapy dog breeds for children with autism, new research has found. Providing safety and companionship, these pups help promote positive changes in behaviour, reduce anxiety and offer a calming focus.
Dogs, cats, rabbits and guinea pigs are not just cute companions, they're also great for helping autistic children with their social and emotional development.
Dogs can be wonderful pets and companions for children with autism. Dogs provide the kind of unconditional companionship and friendship that can help a child with autism build social skills and confidence.
The answer is a resounding yes! The research is clear! Dogs are helping kids with autism overcome a lot of obstacles! The world is a scary place for children with autism, but dogs can help calm them and socialize them.
When you bring your new pet home, let your child observe first without contact with the pet. Give both your child and the new pet time and space to adjust to each other. Model appropriate behavior, so your child can learn how to interact with your new pet. Allow your child to approach the animal on their own terms.
Pet attachment, she continues, is related to better mental health in autistic individuals (17:15). The study also found that autistic people use relationships with pets to compensate for social avoidance experienced as a result of social difficulties (16:15).
Repetitive motions are also a characteristic of autistic behavior, and can include a wide variety of actions such as circling a room over and over again, or chronic tail-chasing or obsessive teeth grinding. Other repetitive behaviors include lining up toys or other objects, or obsessive chewing.
Depending on the needs of the child, these dogs are trained to provide tactile or deep pressure stimulation for sensory needs, maintain personal boundaries, and assist with a variety of daily tasks. These dogs are sometimes called Sensory Processing Disorder Dogs.
Children with autism feel safer, calmer and more understood through their bond with a Smart Pup Assistance Dog. These trusty canine companions can increase an autistic child's ability to cope with life, ease sensory overload and provide emotional support.
If you would like to 'owner' train your assistance/service dog, meaning you train your dog to be an assistance/service dog, you will need to be capable of doing this. This means you will need to be physically and mentally able to do this training with the dog and also take on the responsibility of owning a dog.
Pet rats or guinea pigs for special needs children
Some pet experts feel that rats and guinea pigs can be great pets for children with special needs as they are often very gentle and calming. They are therefore possibly the best small pet for an autistic child.
Your child with autism may enjoy having a pet nearby. It may help reduce anxiety and give him/her a sense of companionship. Many children with pets show an increase in self-confidence as well.
“Everybody knows that it's always nice to have a friend near who thinks like you do,” Dr. Bowes explained, “and that's why those with autism benefit so much from having a dog. Dogs sense the world like we do, and don't judge us or demand that we pull ourselves together.
A cat may be the perfect low-key pet for your child with autism. There is some evidence that children on the spectrum prefer the company of cats to dogs, as cats have a “less intrusive” gaze. Cats are very independent which makes them naturally low maintenance pets.
Rodents, most especially mice, are excellent animal models of autism because they have similar social relationships and neuroscience. When exposed to prenatal valproate (VPA) during pregnancy, the mice are born with basic deformities and the developmental delays seen symptomatically in humans5.
Parents with children who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD) might not want to get their child a service dog because dogs might be a challenge to them. Cats, on the other hand, are an excellent alternative. Having a pet enables your kids to learn strong interpersonal skills such as sharing and empathy.
There is currently no regulation for therapy dogs in Australia, in spite of many companies training and "certifying" them. You can, in fact ,train your own therapy dog.
They have good temperaments and calm, easy-going personalities. Whereas service dogs are not supposed to interact with or be touched by anyone but their handler, patients are encouraged to interact with therapy dogs while they are on-duty.
Dachshund. The Dachshund is a great choice for a child with autism. They are very loyal and loving and make wonderful companions.
Smell is a dog's most prominent sense and the one that is the most different from ours. It has been estimated that a dog's sense of smell is 100,000 times more powerful than a human's.
Dogs have an acute sense of hearing, so they hear distant thunder before we do. They also smell changes in the atmosphere (ozone) better than we do, so they may sense an oncoming storm.
An autism assistance dog or autism service dog is an assistance dog trained to assist a person with autism to help them gain independence and the ability to perform activities of daily living similar to people without autism.
Inheritance. ASD has a tendency to run in families, but the inheritance pattern is usually unknown. People with gene changes associated with ASD generally inherit an increased risk of developing the condition, rather than the condition itself.
Dog autism symptoms may include: Repetitive behaviors, like tail-chasing or walking in circles. Distress at breaking normal routines. Challenges adapting to new situations.