Autism assistance dog

An autism assistance dog or autism service dog is an assistance dog trained to assist an autistic person manage their disability and live more independently.

History
The first autism assistance dog was trained by Chris Fowler, who founded the first organization worldwide called National Service Dogs in 1996. He placed a dog named Shade with an autistic 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 training. Autism assistance dogs usually cost between $12,000 and $30,000. There is often a long wait list for autism assistant 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. Autism assistant dogs often perform tasks like DPT (Deep Pressure Therapy), back/front block, crowd control, alerting to sounds such as timers or a fire alarm, medication reminders, self-injury interruption, retrieving dropped items and other tasks to help calm anxiety, prevent sensory overload or underwhelm, ensure safety and assist in daily living.

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 children with autism from leaving the house unsupervised. When autism assistance dogs are paired with children, the dog often 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 or understimulated.

Some children with autism have been reported to have an increased sense of independence because of their interactions with the autism assistance dog.

Sometimes a child harness—attached to an autism assistance dog—is worn by the autistic child. There recently has been controversy over this, due to the sudden force put on the dog as well as it preventing the child from escaping distressing situations such as an unpredictable attack from an untrained dog (this is common for handlers).

Adults
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 a person with autism, it may not be immediately obvious which of the many external stimuli is the urgent one requiring their immediate attention. People with autism may not recognize urgency and be unable to react in situations, thus this task is extremely important. A person with autism may have difficulty migrating a heavily stimulating environment and become uneasy. This uneasiness may cause a loss of balance, panic attacks, melt downs, and an over-stimulation episode all of which are very distressing for everyone around and the individual themselves. A dog can assist by providing a trained sensory input such as putting pressure on the tissue, licking, and even grounding. Autism assistance dogs provide this "grounding" by sitting on their feet, applying pressure when the owner is anxious or overwhelmed. Autistic individuals on the spectrum may also experience getting lost when traveling in a party or with another person. Often they find themselves unable to reconnect with people and even finding it difficult to ask for help. Some autism assistance dogs have training in tracking people through scent which may aid in wandering. Some people with autism have to leave an area that's too overwhelming for them and assistance dogs can help guide them to an exit and provide on command services to help them once in a safe area.