Autist boy died after 2 days in the cold. Did not respopnd to calls. Should we train dogs to assist autist kids like we do for blind people?

http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=2316134

Good question....It all depends on if the person has an aversion to dogs.

From what little I know of autism, I would agree that dogs probably aren't the answer. Guide dogs and assistance dogs are actually working together with their owner, and I suspect that wouldn't be the case with autism.

Unfortunate case. It kind of makes you wonder if some kind of electronic locator would be of value. But there would be issues with that, too -- the one time a parent forgot to put it on would be the time it was needed.

Sue

Giving a dog to people who don't understand socializing, leadership and control etc.

Doesn't sound a like a recipe for success.

Dogs actually seem to be pretty helpful when it comes to children with Autism. Not necessarily for saving their life, but for better focus and attentiveness.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/health...dren&st=cse

There are already many programs out there:

Dogs for the Deaf, program to include Autism Assistance Dogs for children and families

Keystone Service Dogs

4Paws Dogs

Autism Service Dogs of America

Plenty of others as well-

Pete

For the most part, this article reflects AuntGoo's experience as an Occupational Therapist treating autistic kids, birth through high school. She works primarily in the local school systems, with all manner of special needs kids, but initially worked in a big city hospital setting with severely autistic kids. From 2001 through 2005 she operated a preschool for special need--primarily autism--birth to four year olds, with the idea that early intervention would help them when they entered the public school system. When she opened the preschool, we had a rescue dog--a ten year old, toothless chihuahua, who was particularly empathetic to people who were sick or felt "out of sorts." AuntGoo brought Dusty to the preschool one day, for "show and tell." He would sidle right up the kids who were stressed by the activities, and sit calmly beside them. For the most part these kids picked up on his calm, and calmed down, too.
Were there exceptions? Sure: some of the kids took a bit to warm up to him and some were too rough with him, but Dusty ended up as a regular fixture there, because he was an asset, even without any formal training (that we knew of) on his part.
Every dog is different, every human is different. There are possibilities to this type of treatment.
On a side note, it was because ALL of Dusty's teeth were gone, that AuntGoo felt safe bringing him to the preschool. He knew to move away if someone was too rough, but when he couldn't escape, he'd growl and snap like any other dog. A couple of the kids learned to be nice and gentle, by being too rough and getting "gummed" for it. From my own experience trying to trim his nails, I can tell you that even when you know a dog has no teeth, if he snaps at you, you're going to jerk your hand away.