Woof Woof!

I have known about Animal Assisted Therapy for awhile, and have seen it in action while shadowing an Occupational Therapist at a hospital. Being an animal lover, I know how therapeutic animals and how helpful they can be in the healing process! 
         In addition to using animals for therapy in hospitals, they can also be utilized in homes with people with disabilities. I knew about assistance dogs for people who are blind, but I came across a  cool organization that raises and trains "Assistance Dogs"--called Paws With A Cause that had an webpage on the different types of service dogs they can train. I already knew about service dogs for people who have vision and hearing impairments, but I was very interested to learn that they can now train dogs to assist the client while they are having a seizure and to help children with Autism.


Here's the description of what exactly a "Seizure Response Dog" does from the "Paws With a Cause" website:


          "A dog can be trained to (among other things) push life-alert buttons, help and/or comfort a person during a seizure and get help or retrieve the phone for the client. Although we do not profess to train dogs to detect seizures, several of our Seizure Dogs have, after several years with a client, developed the ability to alert their owner of an oncoming seizure. Seizure Response Dog training takes approximately 6 - 9 months at the PAWS National Headquarters and Training Center. PAWS trains Seizure Response Dogs for individuals 14 years of age and older."


(^A dog that can learn to predict someone's seizure?! How crazy cool is that?!?! I think that is a pretty innovative tool that a CTRS can use to complement therapy/use during therapy sessions. Having a dog like this would offer the person with epilepsy increased comfort and independence to participate in different leisure activities that they may not have been able to before because of their fear of having a seizure when they are alone.)

Now, here is a little more information about how children with Autism would receive benefits by having an Assistance Dog in their home:

"In June of 2009, PAWS began a two-year pilot program for families living with Autism. The Service Dogs for Children with Autism program at PAWS places highly-skilled Service Dogs with children with Autism. The program's goals include having the dog help with social interactions and relationships; help with verbal and nonverbal communications; help increase a child's interest in activities or play; and help decrease overall stress within the family and home life.

To children with Autism, everyone, everywhere and everything is 'outside' of their world. Dogs can break into this world by always being there when they are needed by the child; dogs don't pass judgment on a child, like humans tend to do. By nature, the dog does not care that the child has Autism; they only care that they are a part of the child's life.

The Service Dog can facilitate hand/eye coordination. Socially interacting with their Service Dog allows for the children to have a friend - this often eludes children with Autism, as they typically lack the necessary social skills to participate in group activities or social outings.

The Service Dog can be vital in teaching the child life skills. The child learns to comb and brush the hair on the dog and they, in turn, learn to do it for themselves. The same things can be done with brushing their teeth, bathing and getting dressed.

Children who have been diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum disorder can qualify for the PAWS Service Dogs for Children with Autism program under the following criteria:

• 4 - 12 years of age (applications accepted for 4 - 10 year olds)
• in an ongoing education program
• in a physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy or recreational therapy program
• have excellent family support "

This is also extremely cool.... having an assistance dog can help a child with Autism learn hand/eye coordination and life skills?! They are such important skills to learn, and those are the skills that TR Specialists have as goals for children with Autism to work towards. If having a dog like one from "Paws With a Cause" can help with the learning of these skills, I think this would be a very useful and innovative tool to use as a CTRS for this population. As stated in the description, the organization started a pilot program in 2009 for children with Autism. It appears that the program has had a lot of success since it started, and I think that as it increases in popularity, these type of therapy dogs will be seen more in therapy settings such as in Recreational Therapy!

 I am excited to see the progress of these types of animal-assisted therapy and hope that they can help increase the results of a therapy plan implemented by CTRS's in the near future! :)