Use of Dog Therapy to Help Autistic Children

Autism-Treatment

It is a usual problem for autistic children to suffer from the effects of an impaired social and interpersonal relationships throughout their life. Various treatments and therapies have been put to use to offer aid to the autistic children on the communication front. These therapies make use of different types of tools and equipments to promote and guide the social responsiveness and interactions of such children.

One such therapy is dog therapy that utilizes dogs as an aid to provide therapeutic solution to the communication impairment that these children suffer from. Animals were being used as therapeutic tools for a long time now, so there is nothing innovative in the use of dogs to provide help to autistic children to overcome their problem of communication. Among all the animals, dogs prove to be the most effective, as they offer unconditional love and interaction with them is non-verbal, so the use of dogs in autism therapy can be really advantageous.

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It is not essential for your child to be a part of a rigorous therapy session, rather simply the presence of a dog in your house as a pet will encourage the child to increase their interaction with their surroundings. As autism spectrum disorder robs the child of the interaction ability, so any kind of interaction, even the non-verbal one with your family pet, can be highly beneficial for him.

Keeping this in mind, if you are planning to adopt a dog, try to engage both the child and the pet in a playtime and make sure their interaction takes place under your supervision. This is necessary because dogs, specially little hyperactive puppies require training, so it will not be a wise decision to leave your autistic child alone with your newly-adopted pet. But over time as a good rapport develops between your child and dog, then you can do away with the strict supervision.

Once trained, dogs tend to religiously follow their daily routine and they can instill the same thing in your child by teaching them to follow their daily routine and instruction when it comes to take care of themselves. The tending process of the dog that includes taking it for walk and feeding it, helps the child to acquire some sense of responsibility which is a part and parcel of interpersonal relationships.

Coping and handling the condition of autism is in itself an ordeal for both the child and parent. But you can lighten the burden of your child by finding out innovative ways to help him like resorting to dog therapy that will include care of the dog and playing with it as a part of the home-therapy program for your child.

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