An autism assistance dog or autism service dog is an

assistance dog In general, an assistance dog, known as a service dog in the United States, is a dog trained to aid or assist an individual with a disability. Many are trained by an assistance dog organization, or by their handler, often with the help of a profe ...

trained to assist an autistic person to help them gain independence and the ability to perform

activities of daily living Activity may refer to: * Action (philosophy), in general * Human activity: human behavior, in sociology behavior may refer to all basic human actions, economics may study human economic activities and along with cybernetics and psychology may st ...

similar to neurotypical individuals.

History

The first autism assistance dog was trained by Chris Fowler. Chris Fowler founded the first organization worldwide called National Service Dogs in 1996. He placed a dog named Shade with an

autistic The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

child in 1997. Autism is a lifelong disability with characteristics that vary from person to person. Training for autism assistance dogs is similar to

guide dog Guide dogs (colloquially known in the US as seeing-eye 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 blin ...

training. Autism assistance dogs usually cost between $12,000 and $30,000. There is a long waiting list for the dogs. Anecdotal evidence of the efficacy of autism assistance dogs is greater than the amount of research on the practice. Without objective standards, it can be difficult for parents, caregivers, and educators to make a case for the need for autism assistance dogs.

Function

Autism assistance dogs are trained to perform specific tasks to help their owners live independently and navigate the world. They can help their owner get ready in the morning, alert people of emergencies, pick up items, aid their owner when they have

sensory overload Sensory overload occurs when one or more of the body's senses experiences over-stimulation from the environment. There are many environmental elements that affect an individual. Examples of these elements are urbanization, crowding, noise, mass ...

, and many more tasks depending on the individual.

Children

The primary focus of an autism assistance dog for a child is to protect the safety of the children they work with. For example, autism assistance dogs are sometimes trained to prevent autistic children from leaving the house unsupervised. When autism assistance dogs are paired with children, the dog takes commands from the parents, not the child. Autism assistance dogs also alert parents of dangerous situations regarding the children they work with. Autism assistance dogs can help open the door for children and keep them from becoming overstimulated. Some Autistic children have been reported to have an increased sense of independence because of their interactions with the autism assistance dog. Sometimes a

child harness A child harness (alternative: ''child tether'', ''walking harness'', British English: ''walking reins'') is a safety device worn by children when walking with a parent or carer. Child harnesses are most commonly used with toddlers and children of ...

—attached to an autism assistance dog—is worn by an autistic child. There recently has been controversy over this, due to the sudden force put on the dog.

Adults

As with

hearing dogs Hearing, or auditory perception, is the ability to perceive Sound, sounds through an organ, such as an ear, by detecting Vibration, vibrations as periodic changes in the pressure of a surrounding medium. The academic field concerned with he ...

for the

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an Audiology, audiological condition. In this context it ...

, the 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 an autistic person, it may not be immediately obvious which of the many external stimuli is the urgent one requiring their immediate attention. An autistic person may have to sort through both major and minor stimuli—the sound of crickets, the smell of the fabric softener on their clothes, a car driving past outside—to determine which of these, if any, needs their attention. They may understand that a smoke alarm is urgent and requires them to exit the building, but it might take more time to realize the alarm is sounding in the first place. Autism assistance dogs may use a command to "ground" their owners by sitting on their feet, applying pressure when the owner is

anxious Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...

References

Citations

Sources

* * {{Cite journal, last1=Butterly, first1=Felicity, last2=Percy, first2=Carol, last3=Ward, first3=Gillian, date=November 2013, title=Brief Report: Do Service Dog Providers Placing Dogs with Children with Developmental Disabilities Use Outcome Measure and, If So, What Are They?, journal=Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, volume=43, issue=11, pages=2720–2725, doi=10.1007/s10803-013-1803-1, pmid=23479076, s2cid=207159977 Assistance dogs Treatment of autism