Life for children with an Autism or other developmental impairments can be difficult. Autism causes developmental disabilities which can lead to cognitive rigidity, restricted interests, social withdrawal, and anxiety. Plus, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) usually have short attention spans and difficulties in engaging in social life.

Companion dogs have proved to be beneficial in many ways for children in the autistic spectrum. They can help them socializing with others, making them feel emotionally secure, and providing opportunities to get the conversation started.

Companion dogs can feel the emotions and shift in moods of the people they assist, thus can feel oncoming meltdowns, and help reduce their severity or placate them altogether. With their soothing presence, companion dogs make ASD children feel more secure, and are successful in reducing stress and preventing anxiety.

Through fun games and activities, they can help ASD kids with sensory stimulation, and improve their communication skills, as kids have to speak out cue words to interact with the dog.
The bond between the child and the dog gives the child the opportunity to experience friendship, to cope with loneliness, and to become more self-assured.

For all these reasons, more and more families decide to get a companion dog, or to train their own dog to become one, to assist their autistic child. Buying a service dog could be quite expensive, usually around $15.000-$30.000, and waiting lists could be quite long, you could have to wait up to 2-3 years. Training your own companion dog is a much faster, cheaper, and fun option.

Service Dog Training School International’s course based - companion dog for children with autism training costs $299, and includes 8 modules, covering everything you need to know about having and training a companion dog, one-on-one online instructor support, and dog certification as companion dog.
Get more info on this course by visiting https://www.servicedogtrainingschool.org/online-school/companion-dog-training-autism-children

All the methods used in the training are force free and based on positive reinforcement, this will make training a fun activity both for the dog and the handler and child; and will give one more opportunity to spend quality time with the family.

Now that the course is available online, people in need of training their dog to become a companion dog for their child affected by ASD, can join the course from all over the world and train at their own speed, according to their schedule.

Service Dog Training School International has also developed SDTSI app, so that you can take your training anytime anywhere. Available for iOS and Android.

To learn more about Service Dog Training School International online training courses, visit ServiceDogTrainingSchool website.