So in the summer we got this labradoodle without entirely thinking it through. I saw a poster at the local general store, I wondered what labradoodles were, I found out and I thought they sounded like the perfect breed for us. I wanted to get a puppy this summer, because we'd decided that summer was the best time to go through the puppy phase for our family, and I really felt like Dana might die this fall or winter, and I just didn't want to go through a lonely time with no dog. So, totally selfish on my part, and driven by me not by anyone else in the family, really (namely, my husband!). He was unsure about it at first, as he usually is when something isn't his idea, but now of course he loves Burke.
Then, the service dog piece popped into my head. I just - started wondering if we could/should train Burke to act as some sort of assistance dog for Jake. We got him when he was seven weeks old, and I started reading about training service dogs. I bought a slew of books on it, read them all, and tried to think about what tasks we might be able to train Burke to provide for Jake. I'm still wondering about trainable tasks - the biggest one is to calm him, to redirect stims like flapping into petting him - Burke could, say, give Jake a nudge or lay his head in Jake's lap when Jake is stimming, and that could cue Jake to pet Burke, thereby stopping the flapping. And then calming - now I know, fully, that simply calming someone by your presence is not a trained service dog task. I'm still unclear where we are going with Burke. Skilled companion or full service dog?
I've been willing to set foundational behaviors with Burke, really try to work on his basic obedience, and foster a bonding and relationship with Jake and just see where and how it unfolds. I'm just going to take the next six months to a year to see where we want to go with this. Right now, I don't see the dog accompanying him to school. I also am really unclear about the trained task part and what that might look like for us. I keep thinking of other ways to redirect Jake when he's stimming. I am planning to talk to Jake's teacher/case manager and see what her thoughts are. I don't want to train the dog to do something that we can accomplish another way. But if he brings him calm and groundedness in public, and can be trained to do a few things that assist Jake in maintaining regulation in public, that could be a very, very good thing.
The whole experience has made me aware of this issue: just what trained task makes sense for a person with autism? The traditional definition of service dog doesn't fit neatly with the disability of autism. It is absolutely wild to me, how in every single area from education, to intervention, to mitigating a person's disability with a service animal, autism blows apart the current system. It takes it down to bare bones, core assumptions, and says: are you sure this is what it's really about? No one would question whether Jake has a disability. He's significantly affected by autism as well as a couple of serious health challenges. But one could definitely question what trained tasks a service dog could do that really would be a core task, something that just the presence of the dog doesn't do, and not something pointless or menial that you train the dog to do just so you can have public access.
I'm still trying to figure it out. And as I read on various forums about other kids with autism - say, a girl who can only communicate when her dog is present, because the dog grounds her and connects her in a way that doesn't happen when the dog isn't there - I see I'm not the only one who has wondered about this. I'm not the only parent of a child with autism who's said, "Wow, I'm sure a dog would help my child - but wait! If the dog's presence calms and regulates my child and prevents meltdowns, that isn't a trained service dog task?" It is kind of crazy, when you can't take a kid into a store by himself, but take him with his dog and he's calm and appropriate. Yet that alone does not a service dog make, under the current definition.
Now, I understand not opening the door to a world of "this is my service dog" when the dog is ill-behaved and really not trained properly. Or what about situations such as, "I have depression and my dog comforts me so he has to come to the grocery store with me." I'm not sure that seems reasonable to me. But "I have a neurological difference that makes my world absolutely chaotic, and when this dog is with me, his presence regulates my neurological system enough that I can pay attention to the things around me, such as participating in grocery shopping with my family" - might that not be different? It seems that often dogs that calm a person with autism are lumped under "emotional support animal" when that's not what they are. Autism isn't an emotional condition. It's a neurological difference.
Autism. Constantly pulling the rug out from under us. Upending us, making us consider new and different paradigms for everything.
And Jake and Burke? Best buds, and Burke will go lay near him and look at him when he has a freakout. Jake loves to cuddle under a comforter while Burke mouths him through it, for the deep pressure. Jake has lots of words for Burke - especially "Burke no!" and "Burke, go outside!" Burke feels it is his job to stay within 100 feet of Jake when outside. I'll look out and there will be Jake, climbing the rocks, and Burke laying on the grass near him, watching. I don't know about the laws, but it certainly seems like a good thing for this boy to have a puppy.
My son has a service dog that accompanies him to school. He has asperger's and the dog is trained to help him calm down and focus and to get over meltdowns faster (most of the time he can head them off before they start.)
ReplyDeleteOne of the specific commands the dog is trained to do is called LAP. In this command the dog get either partially or entirely into my son's lap. The deep pressure from this can stop stimming prevent meltdowns.
In less stressful situation he will give the CLOSER command. The dog underneath him and sits between his legs. This puts warm pressure on my son's legs and places the dogs head in an ideal position for petting. The stimulation from this allows my son to block out distractions and pay attention to his teachers in class.
The dog is also trained to interfere with certain other problem behaviors (I won't go into detail here).
How can these things be any less valid than a service dog that picks up a dropped item for someone in a wheelchair, or helps to open a door? These are things that make my son independent in ways that he couldn't be before the dog. He could go to the Nurse's office and work through the meltdown but that would require the nurses help and it would take him our of the learning environment for more time. It is like saying that the person in the wheelchair should just ask someone to open the door or pick up the dropped item. They could certainly do that I'm sure someone would be glad to help but that would defeat the whole purpose of being more independent.