therapy dog

[costin]

I read an article about a therapy dog inserted into a treatment dedicated to children suffering from autism. Some of you assisted to it or know what`s going on? One of my nephews was diagnosed with medium autism and I`m interested in finding alternative and relative therapies, since doctors and teachers at kindergarten say don`t know what to do

 

[Annette4]

My Corgi is a retired Pets As Therapy dog although we didn't do much work with children as I wasn't available in the hours they needed and to be honest, he much prefers old ladies with biscuits!

 

[Imogen Rose]

My Labrador jasper is a retired pets as therapy dog too. We never met anyone who had a treatment plan based on the therapy dog. But kids do find that they can talk to the dog, and talk about the dog, which helps with communication. Also many children with autism find the outside world a scary place, so a calm happy dog helps them see its not so bad. It the dog isn't scared they don't have to be scared... etc. plus meeting new people is less scary, because they want to talk to the child about the dog, which is a safe topic that they know about. I do think therapy with dogs is a very helpful tool with autism.

 

[satinbaze]

I think support dogs of Sheffield have been training assistance dogs to work with autistic children. I however think this is an assistance role rather than treatment role. Maybe it is in USA where they use therapy dogs for treatment