An autism service dog is a service dog trained to assist a person with autism, to help them gain independence, confidence, and the ability to perform activities of daily living similar to anyone else. For the most part, these dogs are trained to perform tasks similar to those of service dogs for other sensory processing disabilities.
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Autism service dogs are trained to help the handler process sensory information. Many autism service dogs are trained in guide work/obstacle avoidance (similar to a guide dog) to help the handler with visual stimuli.
As with hearing assistance dogs for the deaf, the dogs may also be trained to alert their handler to important noises or other things requiring human intervention, such as smoke or a smoke alarm, a crying baby, a telephone ringing, a knock at the door. For a person with autism, it isn't quickly obvious which of the many external stimuli is the urgent one requiring their immediate attention. A person with autism must sort through both major and minor stimuli—the sound of crickets, the smell of the fabric softener on their clothes, a car driving past outside—in order to determine which of these, if any, needs their attention. They may understand that a smoke alarm is urgent and requires them to exit the building, but they may take longer going about it.[1]
How Service Dogs are Trained to Respond to Certain Behaviors:[2]
| Behavior | Response |
|---|---|
| Self Stimulation | Will Signal Handler to Behavior, Handler May Choose to Stop |
| Self Harming | Will Interrupt Behavior |
| Overstimulation/Meltdown/Shutdown | Deep Pressure Tasks: Step on Foot, Paws on Lap, Lie on Handler |
| Poor balance/motor control | Counter-balance, brace for stability |
| Disorientation | Find the car, go home, find other specified places |
| Auditory Processing Problems | Alert to important sounds |
| Visual Processing Problems | Guide Work - steer around obstacles |
In The UK Assistance\Service Dogs are trained and supported by Charitable organizations; one such training Mobility assistance dogs is Dogs for the Disabled. Initially they were founded to train Dogs for people with Physical Disabilities, but they recently had a program training dogs to support families with Autistic Children.