As mentioned in past posts, I am a direct service provider with Integrated Development Services which means that I do in-home, Applied Behavior Analysis, play-based therapy with children who has Autism Spectrum Disorders. Last week, one of my kiddos (who has multiple disabilities) got to bring home a new friend for good- a beautiful chocolate lab who will be much more than a family pet. He will be a companion and source of therapy and service for the 4-year-old little boy! It was the sweetest experience playing with my kiddo (who I cannot name due to HIPPA regulations) and the dog who has quickly become his favorite family member. They had met a few times before for one night sleepovers to help the child transition and make sure that the dog was a good fit for him. Over and over we stood in their yard and practiced telling the dog sign language and verbal commands, then throwing a ball or frisbee for him to catch- and every time my little guy would jump up and down with the sweetest, most joyful smile on his face. He loves to hug his canine buddy, run after him, and especially loves to blow bubbles toward him (which his service dog gladly chomps on thinking they are some kind of food-which my little guy thinks is hilarious). This source of joy extends beyond the child into the faces of his mother and father who are elated that he is so excited by this new friend. This incredibly joyful therapy experience with this family has been a highlight of my service learning project. I have done some mild research on service dogs (who are trained for individuals with disabilities to help them with their specific disabilities) and therapy dogs (who are used in settings like nursing homes, hospitals and events) and listed some resources below- but I am confident that the laughter and joy that the dog brought to this family has proven how truly effective a service dog can be even for just some therapy and restoration.
Here is an excerpt from the Assistance Dogs International website defining service dogs and what they do:
Service Dogs assist people with disabilities other than vision or hearing impairment. With special training these dogs can help mitigate many different types of disabilities. They can be trained to work with people who use power or manual wheelchairs, have balance issues, have various types of autism, need seizure alert or response, need to be alerted to other medical issues like low blood sugar, or have psychiatric disabilities. These specially trained dogs can help by retrieving objects that are out of their person’s reach, opening and closing doors, turning light switches off and on, barking to indicate that help is needed, finding another person and leading the person to the handler, assisting ambulatory persons to walk by providing balance and counterbalance, providing deep pressure, and many other individual tasks as needed by a person with a disability.
For more information: (http://www.assistancedogsinternational.org/about-us/types-of-assistance-dogs/service-dog/)
For more information: (http://www.assistancedogsinternational.org/about-us/types-of-assistance-dogs/service-dog/)
I wanted to list these other two resources so that you can look at the differences between a therapy dog and a service dog- because I found out that the two can often be confused as the same! So, here are some sites for information on therapy dogs:
http://www.therapydoginfo.net/
https://www.therapydogs.com/Public/Home.aspx
http://www.therapydoginfo.net/
https://www.therapydogs.com/Public/Home.aspx