Autistic children and adults often struggle with poor quality of sleep, restlessness, insomnia or significant fatigue. An Autism Assistance Dog is trained to sleep on the bed and provide Deep Pressure Therapy when needed. This helps the individual to feel grounded, safe, secure and relaxed.
It is often helpful to incorporate the Assistance Dog in all stages of an Autistic child’s morning and bedtime routine. For example, an Assistance Dog may play a role in dressing and undressing. This may be achieved by asking a dog to retrieve items of clothing or gently tug on the child’s sleeves to help them remove clothing.
Our highly trained Assistance Dogs can help enable our clients to access education and employment. Some of our dogs have even made it possible for our clients to live alone for the first time!
Our Assistance Dogs promote healthy living through regular exercise. During our family training programme, we provide instruction and advice on how to enjoy daily outdoor exercise, training and play time with an Assistance Dog.
Our Assistance Dogs helps to make public places more accessible to their Autistic handlers. Their fast and effective response to anxiety helps to provide reassurance and can allow the individual to grow in confidence and enjoy a more independent life.
In many cases, the individual is able to enjoy access to public places that they were unable to access before due to overwhelming levels of social anxiety or sensory overload. Our Assistance Dog teams have successfully visited restaurants, supermarkets, shopping centers, hospitals, churches, museums, aquariums, circuses and much more. Our Assistance Dogs also enable their handlers to access transport services such as trains, buses, taxis and even planes!
Accessing medical services is particularly challenging for Autistic people. A visit to hospital may expose the individual to overwhelming sensory stimuli, uncertainty, unwanted social interaction and the sensory difficulties associated with pain. Our Assistance Dogs regularly accompany their handlers to routine appointments. They have also provided Deep Pressure Therapy inside ambulances and supported their handlers through exploratory scans and medical procedures.
Our clients receive a booklet containing recommended sensory games. These games have been carefully designed to assist in the development of language, communication, motor skills and more. These sensory games provide a fun and engaging way to improve sensory regulation.
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