Temple Grandin

by Annette Wood

  John’s bunny, Rosebud, played Easter bunny for six years at the Arc of Sedgwick County Kansas’s annual Easter egg hunt. The Arc serves persons with special needs. Rosebud was very social. “She would lie down and spread out as far as she could to make room for lots of little hands,” said John.

  Once a week for three years, Joyce visited Brendan Duncan, a severely disabled man. She took a rabbit, Cinnamon, with her, sharing her love for bunnies with a person in the community who needed a little unconditional love. Brendan loved the rabbit. It gave him something to look forward to and something to talk about. “It makes him think about other things besides the normal whatever’s going on around here. The more he thinks the better,” said Georgia Duncan, Brendan’s mom. Brendan’s conversational speech improved. “He anticipates, he knows what’s coming next, he carries on more of a conversation,” said Joyce.

  Bunnies also visit nursing homes with pet owners. “The clients would visit with the rabbit when they wouldn’t interact with other people,” said Joyce.

  The House Rabbit Society keeps a list of basic bunny facts that Bunny TNT likes to share:

  1. Rabbits can purr when contented.

  2. Like cats and dogs, rabbits need to be spayed or neutered to improve health and behavior.

  3. Most rabbits do not like to be held. They prefer to sit beside you.

  4. Rabbits need to have things of their own to chew on (or they will nibble on your stuff).

  5. Rabbits need to be protected from predators, poison, temperature extremes, electrical cords, and rough handling.

  Bunny TNT recognizes that a child with autism may benefit from a bunny in many ways. Treatment is not as scary as pills or needles, but care can be time-consuming. It also can be a cuddly and effective form of treatment for autism that benefits the whole family.

  CHAPTER 19

  CATS AND DOGS AND AUTISM

  People with autism face communication difficulties every day. Much has been written about the benefits of dogs and horses for people with autism. Cat therapy is only beginning to be explored.

  Cats are smaller than dogs and not as noisy. Many youngsters with Asperger’s have sensitive hearing and don’t like a lot of noise. Samuel, who is fourteen and has Asperger’s, described his experience in Service Cats for Autism, which was published online. Samuel said, “I have a service cat named Hub and he has saved my life. Not every cat can be a service cat. They have to have the right personality for it. I have trained two (cats), so I know how to train them.” He offered to train cats for others.

  People with Asperger’s need some living being to connect with who understands and serves as a mentor on communication. Cats are patient and use body language that the person must learn to translate into words and ideas, a struggle for those with autism. A cat can alert its owner to danger by sitting on his chest to get attention or using its claws to warn him.

  George is a four-year-old autistic child. George and Pushkin the cat are friends. Inside they ignore each other, but when they’re outside, Pushkin guards George. Pushkin shows George where the limits are. Pushkin claws George’s mother or Sophie, George’s sister, but never George. He apparently realizes George is different.

  Pushkin could easily outrun George, but for whatever reason, he trusts George. When a spider appears, it’s a race. Whoever gets to the spider first, eats it.1

  According to Temple Grandin, “The sensitive period for socialization is the second week of a kitten’s life to the seventh week, and the more people who handle the kitten during this time the better.”2 This recommendation from Temple comes as a suggestion for obtaining a cat with a friendly, bold temperament.

  Temple Grandin is right. We do need “all kinds of minds.” Cat therapy is a definite possibility for persons with autism.

  Dogs, social and eager to please, can be very helpful to a person with autism. Temple said, “Dogs are so tuned in to people that they are the only animals that can follow a person’s gaze or pointing finger to find out where a piece of food is hidden.”3

  A dog can do wonders for a child’s social skills. A dog accepts a child just the way he is, and sometimes a child with autism may love his dog in ways he cannot love a person. Hopefully this transfers to others.

  I met Clint at Camp SSTAR, an Asperger’s day camp at Heartspring, where I volunteered when he was eight. Clint has greatly benefited from having Micah, a service dog. She’s been a marvelous friend to him, giving him companionship and comfort. She wears a special vest that says “ask to pet,” so children and adults inquire if they can pet her. This encourages social interaction, which is difficult for Clint.

  There are three younger children in this family, to whom Micah relates well. She provides stress relief and a therapeutic presence for the whole family. In public, though, she knows her primary responsibility is Clint.

  Micah aids in a number of ways. Clint’s mother, Sherry, said, “Clint doesn’t have as many meltdowns as he did before Micah came. He’s calmer and more focused.”

  Besides autism, Clint has a seizure disorder, which his dog also helps with, alerting Clint that a seizure is coming as much as an hour before it happens. Micah runs to Sherry and then to Clint. If he has a seizure, Micah makes sure he stays away from dangerous places, such as the swimming pool or stairway. After a seizure, with the command of “brace,” Micah stands straight and still so Clint can pull himself up.

  “The seizure alert dogs use advanced perceptual abilities to solve a problem no dog was born knowing how to solve,” Temple says. “Seizure alert dogs are dogs who can predict a seizure before it starts. There’s still controversy over whether you can train a dog to predict seizures and so far people haven’t had a lot of luck trying. But there are a number of dogs who have figured it out on their own. These dogs were trained as seizure-response dogs, meaning they can help a person once a seizure has begun.

  “But some of these dogs have gone from responding to seizures to perceiving signs of a seizure ahead of time. No one knows how they do this, because the signs are invisible to people. No human being can look at someone who’s about to have a seizure and see (or hear, smell, or feel) what’s coming.”4 Perhaps dogs can detect a smell or smells indicating a seizure is coming on.

  Micah was trained by Canine Assistance Rehabilitation Services (CARES), a nonprofit organization in Concordia, Kansas. CARES is one of only five percent of canine assistance schools that accepts applications from children and adults with multiple disabilities. Founded in 1994 by Sarah Holbert, CARES has placed dogs across thirty-seven states and in several foreign countries including Peru, Puerto Rica, Belgium, and Latvia.

  CARES trains dogs for people who need help with hearing assistance, juvenile diabetes, and autism. They don’t train dogs to lead the sight impaired.

  CARES gets its service dogs in several ways: retired show dogs, specifically bred puppies, and family pets. After initial testing such as temperament testing and health checks, a potential service dog is accepted into the program. Foster homes raise the puppy or dog from nine to eighteen months. In the home, they learn basic obedience and are socialized to public and private life. The dog accompanies his foster parent everywhere—to the grocery store, mall, work, restaurants, school, and church. He is expected to behave.

  A variety of individuals and families volunteer to be foster parents. There are also specialized programs such as Tipton Academy, Ellsworth Correctional Facility, and El Dorado Correctional Facility that function as foster homes for these dogs. Puppy raisers are required to fill out a monthly progress report. CARES staff tracks the dog’s progress.

  After the basic socialization, assistance dogs are reevaluated for temperament and physical soundness. In the final phase of training, the dog learns to meet specific needs of his potential partner. Then the CARES staff finds the right dog to match the person’s personality, lifestyle, and need.

  The dog and his partner train together for ten days. Then there is a graduation ceremony. For the first six months, t
he client has temporary ownership, although CARES can take the dog back any time if it receives at least two reports of abuse.

  “The dog is worth his weight in gold,” said Megan Llewellyn, assistant canine director for the program.

  Jim Sinclair, an adult with autism and founder of Autism Network International, was the pioneer who expanded the use of service dogs or “social signal dogs” into autism spectrum disabilities, beyond the conventional association with assisting the blind.

  Jim writes: “I hoped a dog could help make it safer for me to get around. At that time it was not uncommon for me to walk off curbs into the street, or walk past my house without realizing it and find several blocks later that I didn’t know where I was, or fail to hear a bicycle coming up behind me until it almost ran into me.”

  Jim was unable to find a place willing to train a dog for an autistic person, so he trained one himself. Isosceles, the fourth dog he coached, has been the best service dog that Jim has ever had. He performs routine guiding and signaling tasks that improve Jim’s orientation and safety in the community. He also has social responsiveness.

  “Isosceles has enabled me to recognize acquaintances when I encounter them, which has made it easier for acquaintances to turn into friends. He has helped to initiate some social contacts by noticing when someone was interested in meeting us. I am more oriented to my social environment as well as my physical environment,” Jim said.

  Isosceles has also helped Jim as he worked in schools. “I have worked with young, active, impulsive, unpredictable children who are autistic or have other developmental disabilities. And Isosceles has been right there with me: guiding me through noisy crowded hallways, signaling the right classrooms so I don’t miss them, picking my clients out of the crowds until I learn to recognize them by myself, and patiently and cheerfully enduring the attentions of dozens of children.5

  “Isosceles has developed the rare ability to pay attention to other people in the social environment, without losing his focus on me. It is important to me that Isosceles be aware of people and cues in the social environment, so that he can signal me in turn. I can allow people in my social world to pet Isosceles, and I can allow Isosceles to respond to them, because I know that if I make even the slightest movement, Isosceles will return his full attention to me to see if I need him. This is an extraordinary ability.”6

  The first agency that placed skilled autism service dogs, 4Pawsforability, has a satisfied parent who says this:

  “I had to share what is happening to us. To bring the rest of you up to speed, we have an eight-year-old high-functioning son. We got our dog last March. Our son had never, never slept in his own bed. His ‘security item’ or ‘transitional object’ has always been Dad or me. So success number one: for the last two months he has been sleeping in his own bed with Popeye. No crying, no muss, no fuss.”

  Another comment from 4Paws:

  “When a child with autism disappears, his life is in danger and an adult looking for him may begin a search in the wrong direction; a 4Paws Autism Assistance dog trained in search and rescue never takes the wrong path and quickly leads the adult to the missing child.” (In an online survey conducted by the National Autism Association, an incredible 92 percent of respondents said their child was at risk of wandering. Wandering can occur anywhere, anytime. 4Paws is unique in training dogs to track a child who has disappeared.)

  Terri Wible and her husband, Ken, have two adopted children, six months apart. Both are on the autism spectrum. She says, “Adrianna has the first autism service dog we are aware of in the Kansas City area. We have had an autism service dog in our home since November of 2011. Adi has decreased from three to four violent meltdowns a day to two to three minor ones a month. She knows when she gets anxious or overwhelmed that her service dog Grady is there to help. Grady now recognizes when she is getting overstimulated. He focuses on her and disrupts the meltdown before it starts. Our family has begun to really enjoy public outings. Adrianna will now talk to people when they ask her about her working dog.”

  In thinking about getting an assistance dog, Temple Grandin said the first question to ask is “Does the child like dogs?” “There are three kinds of reactions the child can have: The first is an almost magical connection with dogs. The child and the dog are best buddies. They love being together. The second type of reaction is a child who may be initially hesitant, but learns to really like dogs. The third type of reaction is avoidance or fear.”7

  Temple also cautions: “Unlike other autism interventions that can be easily started and stopped, embarking on a journey to find an appropriate service dog for a child is a long-term commitment on the part of the entire family. A service dog is much more than a well-trained pet…. Parents must be willing and able to make the time, financial … and emotional commitment of having a service dog. This is a family affair with everyone in the family involved.”8

  Nevertheless, the right service dog in the right family may indeed be worth his weight in gold. When it comes to persons with autism, the fact that dogs know just what their partners need is nothing less than magical.

  CHAPTER 20

  HORSES AND AUTISM

  As an adolescent, Temple loved horse riding. She, along with many other teenagers, escaped from the world of school problems into horseback riding. “Horses are super-sensitive to their riders and are constantly responding to the riders’ needs without being asked,” she wrote.1

  People and horses should be together. “Even more so people on the autism spectrum and horses should be together. Both people and horses benefit from this special relationship,” writes Alicia Kershaw, founder and director of Gallop New York City.

  Research into animal-assisted therapy is fairly new. There’s general consensus that therapy animals can be a highly beneficial addition to the treatment program for children with autism or Asperger’s. Equine-assisted therapy seems to have the best results.

  Many benefits come from horseback riding. The gentle rhythmic movement helps the rider improve balance, muscle control, and coordination. The rider brushes, hugs, and pats the horse. Tactile senses are stimulated. The horse’s skin is fuzzy, the mane and tail are rough, and the nose is soft.

  Riders are taught how to care for a horse as well as ride them. Grooming such as brushing, bathing, and currying develops the relationship. This helps the student see the world from a different perspective. Since persons with autism have walls that can be hard to penetrate, this is a valuable lesson.

  Children often make eye contact with the horse first and then other people. Many autistic children have said their first words on horseback. Once again, the child talks to the horse first and then to other people.

  “Language develops because repetitive rocking motion requires the person to continually find and refind his balance, which stimulates areas where learning receptors are located,” said Temple.2

  “Even people with severe autism can do well with riding. Horses calm riders with autism, allowing them to focus, think, and accept training. Desire to ride also allows encouraging positive behaviors and gently discouraging negative behaviors,” said Alice Kershaw.

  Kershaw grew up on a farm in upper New York State where she spent a lot of time with horses. As an adult she married, had three children, and obtained a law degree. At forty-five, she was a director at Merrill Lynch when she took a sabbatical to go with her husband, Peter, to Hong Kong. While overseas, she volunteered for a therapeutic riding group for special needs kids. It changed her life. When she came back to the United States, she started a therapeutic riding group in New York City.

  “We teach riding in a careful and supportive way,” said Kershaw. “A trained volunteer leads each rider’s mount, and two volunteers walk either side of the horse to ensure the rider’s safety. A certified instructor leads all classes. He or she has specialized training in Therapeutic Horsemanship.”3

  “We set individual goals for each rider and patiently work on skills such as speech, socialization
, and fitness. And, yes, one of our goals is ‘just pure fun,’” she adds.4

  It is fun. While riding, children toss colorful balls into baskets. Singing a song while riding, they touch eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and chin. Riding helps children become excited and motivated to talk. They communicate with each other and with the animal.

  And just as a child benefits from the horse, the horse tries to help the child. “The sociability of horses gives them a desire to please their human owners,” says Temple. “When a horse has a good relationship with his rider, he has a built-in natural desire to cooperate and follow his rider’s lead.”5

  “Real riding is a lot like ballroom dancing or maybe figure skating in pairs. It’s a relationship,” said Temple. “A good rider and his horse are a team. It’s not a one-way relationship.”

  Like all animals, horses also have needs. “Horses are herd animals with strong social needs. Horses need companions,” said Temple.6 “Horses stand alongside each other, with each horse’s head next to the other horse’s butt, flicking flies from each other’s faces…. When horses groom each other, their heart rates go down.”7

  Horses need other horses, but they also need human company. “People constantly underestimate domestic animals’ need for companionship. Why did wild horses decide it was okay to have people sitting in a saddle on their backs holding a pair of reins?” Temple asked.8

  Horses and people decided centuries ago that they need each other. There are cautions, though. “A horse is all about flight, and fear is the dominant emotion. Horses are much more flighty than other herd animals such as cows, sheep, or goats,” said Temple.9

  If horse riding is part of your life or your child’s life, it’s wise to know the signs of fear. “A fearful horse switches his tail. As he becomes more scared, the tail moves faster. Other signs are a high head, sweating when there is little physical exertion, and quivering skin. A really frightened horse gets bugged-out eyes and the whites show,” reports Temple.10