Helping children with autism by training your dog

A charity is offering to train family dogs to help children with autim, discovers Alex Spencer

A mum of a daughter with autism has praised a charity who helped them find and train a family dog to help with her child’s special needs.

Vicki Spreadbury was speaking ahead of an event in Cambridge from the charity Dogs For Good, which will showcase the work it does with assistance dogs for the disabled and for children with autism.

She joined one of the charity’s training courses, which help owners teach their own family dogs to learn behaviours that help children like her daughter Sally.

Vicki, of Bassingbourn, said: “Many autistic children get comfort from deep pressure so the trainers show you how to teach a dog to rest its head in a child’s lap or to to lie next to a child to help calm them.

“Our dog, Dido, is still a bit young for this training but the charity gave us the confidence that we could manage a dog with an autistic child.

“Dido has helped Sally already because she is a very lively cockapoo who is a bit unpredictable.

“As the dog can be a bit noisy and naughty, that teaches my daughter to accept problems and noise and mistakes that she won’t accept from other people, because of her autism. The dog shows her that you can’t make people or other living creatures do what you want.

“Sally understands that better from a dog than in terms of human beings. She also makes her laugh.

“In our case the benefits of having a dog is less of a sensory thing but has helped relieve some of the stress and anxiety that is associated with autism.”

Vicki has two younger children – Romy and Clementine – who also love their dog and she says: “Dido is a welcome distraction for my younger children who sometimes are at risk of getting sidelined because there are things we have to do with sally that take emotional time away from them.”

The charity’s event, called The Power of Dogs, will discuss the work they do training dogs for disabled and autistic people. It is on at Fitzwilliam College tomorrow (November 15) from 7pm. Visit dogsforgood.org.

Peter Gorbing, Dogs for Good chief executive, said: “In my role, I’m privileged to be able to witness the power of dogs through the life-changing differences our assistance dogs make to our incredible clients and the stories they share with our organisation.”