A while ago I wrote a blog about service dogs. Today we look at an example of a service dog which has become part of an Alabama family. The Retriever tends the 9 year old girl who has autism. The article in the local paper details how this dog has helped the child and given the family a new lease on life by being having such a stabilizing impact on the child.
Autism has increased in the past 15 years. At that time only 1 in every 10,000 children came away with a diagnosis of autism. Now this developmental disability shows up in 1 in every 150 children. Whether this is because of improved testing and evaluation and awareness or because of a host of other factors is not truly known. Nor is that the focus of this post.
The simple fact that the dog can be trained to help an autistic person connect with the world around them is worth celebrating and sharing. While it is true that most families could not afford the cost of $6000 or so for a trained service dog at their home, it suggests that other ordinary dogs CAN be trained for some of these tasks, by the families involved.
Perhaps no one thought of it before?
Here is the link to the post with photos. http://decaturdaily.com/stories/17447.html
