Animals help kids with Autism

There is a lot of great work being done around the world showing how effective animals can be in helping kids with autism.  The benefits to kids on the spectrum from being around animals are well documented – from providing comfort to improving social interactions and relationships.

A great example comes from Temple Grandin’s  autobiography (Thinking In Pictures: and Other Reports from My Life with Autism – Vintage, 1996) where she explains that she has to wear comfortable clothes to counteract her sensory integration dysfunction and has structured her lifestyle to avoid sensory overload.  She uses a hug machine that she invented at the age of 18 as a form of stress relief therapy – which was inspired by the sensation and comfort she sought out as a child from being squeezed between two cattle.

And then there is the New Jersey program “Paws for Autism”, which helps kids with autism to develop social skills and connect with others.  The idea is that kids with autism begin to get a sense of empowerment as they take on the process of training a dog – creating a relationship between child and dog.  For the dog to understand what you are saying, you have to make eye contact – and making eye contact is often difficult for kids with autism.

And the similarly named “Paws with a Cause” is a US-wide service dog program based in Wayland, which has been around for 30 years.  They are now training service dogs for children with autism – a two-year pilot program now underway that will place 15 dogs with families that have a child with autism.  The premise is that the dog helps the child improve social interactions, increase physical activity and lower stress.

Michel O. Scott’s great film “The Horse Boy” provides another dimension to this.  It depicts Rupert Isaacson and his wife Kristin Neff’s quest to improve the life of their autistic son, Rowan.   Rowan by chance strayed onto a neighbor’s property coming into contact with a horse named Betsy.  Rowan and Betsy seemed to have a kind of unspoken connection:  The horse tolerated Rowan’s less than gentle overtures, and Rowan found an unaccustomed calm in the presence of the horse.

The subject of the connection between kids with autism and animals is one which has recurred in discussion on the BrightMind LABS Facebook page over the past few months.  A comment from Sheri Marino on the BrightMind LABS Facebook page sums it up nicely:

“Animals make good friends for Autistic people due solely to the fact that animals do not JUDGE you or make you feel like you are not good enough which is something so many typical people do to us.  If you want us Autistic’s to make friends with people there are two things you must do … ACCEPTANCE & HONESTY!  Without either you will never get us close to you!  God Bless! ”

Thank you Sheri!