4 Paws for Riley: Riley at grad

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Riley at grad

I am so proud of Riley ! He is such a smart and wonderful little boy with so much potential. We are working hard to help him with his social and communcation skills. This dog will help him with those skills too. The dog will become a social topic for him to talk about with his peers and others.

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4 Paws For Ability

Autism Assistance Dog
from Website of 4 Paws for Ability http://www.4pawsforability.org/

4 Paws was the first agency to begin placing skilled Autism Assistance Dogs and continues to be the largest organization in the United States and the only organization placing in other Countries Autism Assistance Dogs with tracking. Having placed well over100 Autism Assistance Dogs to date, this type of dog continues to be the most requested and most often placed dog of all of our services. As the founding agency of Autism Assistance Dogs with tracking 4 Paws for Ability continues to provide the highest quality of dogs to every child that applies. 4 Paws, unlike almost every other agency does not pick and choose whose child will get a dog. As long as the child's physician approves the dog and it is safe to place a dog in the home, no family is turned away. We continue our services with no long waiting lists and continue as always to "partner" with our families to provide the dog their child needs.
Behavior Disruption - Touch
Another skill that is sometimes requested by parents with children who have Autism, is the ability to have their child walking in front of them rather than their having to have their hand on the child at all times. In these instances, a longer leash is used by the parent, which allows them to be in total control of the dog while they are teaching their child a new routine holding a second, shorter leash as they walk beside their new partners. As they approach the street, the 4 Paws dog is trained to stop and sit any time the parent requests them to and it is hoped that when the dog stops to sit the child will also stop, even if for a minute, giving the parent the time to catch up to the child and assist them in crossing the street safely. It is also possible for families to actually tether their child to the dog from the dogs harness to the child's belt loop. The parents maintain the child's safety by holding a leash attached to the dog to easily stop the dog using basic obedience commands. In this manner, parents may engage in such tasks as writing a check for their groceries without the fear their child will disappear in the few moments it takes to look at the check as you write it. Parents can ask the dog to either "stop" momentarily or "stop and sit/down" when more time is needed.
Behavior Disruption - Lap
The mission of 4 Paws Autism Assistance Dog Program is to provide friendship, companionship, unconventional, and unconditional love for the child. A source of comfort and consistency when environments change and anxiety might be high, to help the children with Autism and the other family members find a higher quality of life and bring a more independent life to the child and the support to encounter problems and obstacles set in front of them by Autism and overcome any challenges that they are confronted by.
It is also the hope of 4 Paws to provide a dog that will be the child's best friend and buddy, so that the child will relate to the dog on a higher social level than they ever experienced before, and transfer these accomplishments to the humans which also live within their home and/or school environment.With the number of children currently being diagnosed with disabilities falling in the Autism spectrum, at an increasingly higher frequency and at much younger ages that ever before; the need for Autism Service Dogs is on the rise. 4 Paws is proud to be the Autism Assistance Dog Program most recognized by national Autism organizations. We seek every day to develop more ways in which our dogs can help families with children that have Autism. We encourage parents to ask us about any situation, no matter how silly it may seem to them, which they hope a dog could help with; if it can be done and completed in such a fashion as to not effect safety issues for either the child or the dog, we will give it our best shot.
All over the country teachers and therapists have found that including therapy dogs or service dogs placed with children, into their therapy sessions, shows a marked increase in the child's participation and functional level.
Unique Challenges for Parents
Children with disabilities present a unique challenge to parents. Autism presents even more unique challenges than other more prevalent disabilities. The child with Autism does not connect well with his or her environment. Autism manifests itself most strikingly as impairments in communication and in the formation of social relationships. Children with Autism are often nonverbal, or when they are verbal they usually do not use the skill to actively communicate with other people in their environment.
Many children with this disability have a strong need for a structured, routine environment; change creates feelings or fear and/or anxiety. Some children even exhibit serious behavioral changes including, at times, self-injury.
Wandering
Another behavior common to Autism is a tendency to wander away. Parents often refer to their children as "Houdini," stating they are able to escape from even the most secured environment and the family usually has multiple locks on every door and window in the home. When this happens, the child may be in a life-threatening situation, especially if they are already out of the physical sight of their caregiver. Children with Autism often don't respond to their names consistently, if they respond at all. They rarely understand the many dangers in their environment; an approaching car; a stranger with ill intentions; an aggressive dog separated from the child by nothing more than a gate, which is quite easily opened. Many parents report that their greatest fears center around their child being missing or when out with their child that they might look away only for a minute and turn to find their child gone or darting out into the path of an oncoming car.
At 4 Paws, we understand the unique challenges for children with Autism.
We are the home of the first Autism Assistance Dog with Tracking (Search and Rescue). Recommended by top Autism organizations, Jane Pauley, and Ladies Home Journal. 4 Paws laid the ground work for Autism Dogs in the United States and Autism Dogs with Tracking skills, internationally! We have placed well over 230 dogs since opening our doors with the majority being Autism Assistance Dogs. Currently 90% of all applicants and families working towards getting their dogs are families with children with Autism. 4 Paws, unlike some newer agencies, is a nonprofit, 501c3 organization whose mission is to place quality service dogs. No one profits from our services except the families receiving our dogs.

4 Paws for Riley

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Riley at grad

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