To Ease Transition, Adults With Autism Look To Dogs
By Benjamin Wermund, Austin American-Statesman/MCT
January 8, 2014
LEANDER, Texas — When Kayla Gage starts to have an anxiety attack at the fast food joint where she works, she pets her Russian German shepherd, Hacker, who she keeps in the restaurant’s office.
“If I just pet a dog, it pulls me out of it,” said Gage, 23, who has autism and struggles with anxiety. “Normally, it takes my mom saying my name 50 times to pull me out.”
Gage is in a new Austin Dog Alliance program aimed at preparing young adults with autism for careers. The program’s secret weapon: man’s best friend. Dogs are often easier for people with autism to work with, because they’re easier to read than people are and they tend to be more forgiving.
“These students, they don’t have a whole lot of job opportunities available to them, or a lot of training, or people who even understand how to work with them,” said Carolyn Honish, who teaches the Student + Canines equals Opportunities for Rewarding Employment, or S+CORE, class.
“They need the same opportunities as everybody else,” Honish said.
http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2014/01/08/to-transition-autism-dogs/19000/
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