Unexpected Benefits of the Autism Service Dog

When we decided to go forward with obtaining a service dog for our autistic son, our hopes were high (and our expectations somewhat lower.)  We'd read Patty Dobbs-Gross' book about service dogs for kids with autism, scoured the internet for information about success and not-so-successful stories, and made mental notes about exactly how a service dog could help Tim.  But in the end, our primary objectives were to provide Tim with a non-judgmental companion who could also help keep tabs on him in the event that he should wander from us.  Of course, since Charlie entered our lives we've been repeatedly surprised by the myriad ways in which this loveable little canine has helped Tim find his voice and develop unexpected skills and interests.

In addition to the increased engagement and focus on tasks with Charlie, and the heretofore undiscovered language abilities that Charlie has apparently inspired in Tim, and the new interests in things like obedience and agility training, and the development of a compassionate relationship with Charlie where Tim expresses a wide range of emotions (and often describes what he believes Charlie is feeling), and the CONSTANT opportunities to practice language with the endless stream of strangers stopping to ask us about Charlie, ... well, as though that were all not enough to keep us happy about this placement, we are also seeing some unexpected results from Tim's relationship with Charlie.

I recently unearthed the seldom used video camera that my husband and I earnestly purchased in the days preceding Tim's birth.   Tim often sees me with a still camera in my hands, typically pointed in his direction, but the video camera was a new sight for him and he immediately took interest.  

At first this didn't strike me as terribly out of the ordinary.  We're lucky with Tim in that he will often express interest in new things, particularly things of an electronic nature.  However, when the interest outlasted our 60 minute video tape I knew things were different.

Tim spent well over an hour filming Charlie and since then has spent several hours on our computer re-playing all of the video (along with other archived videos.)  I've begun introducing the camera in other  situations too using it as an opportunity to help Tim look at people's eyes when filming and to encourage discussion about the subject of his film.  It's been an interesting development and I'm hopeful that we'll continue to see his interest in video develop.