Science Proves Pets Good Idea for Children with Autism?

As graduate students in speech-language pathology, many of us are likely to work with individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at some point in either grad school or during our future careers. Check out Autism Speaks for helpful information about autism. 

There has been recent talk about how children with ASD are improving their language and social skills through interaction with animals, especially dogs. As a huge lover of animals, I am all for this strategy and, more importantly, it seems to be helping! When I think about it, this is not overly surprising, since animals are great listeners. The relationship is allowed to be relaxed, with low expectations and minimal pressure. The best part is that there is still the benefit of social interaction.

This idea is catching on and some are taking it even further. Already there are some children with ASD who have live-at-home therapy service dogs. In these instances, the dogs undergo extensive training that is specific to the needs of the child. I expect that these service pets will become increasingly more popular for children with ASD in the coming years. 

Here is the full article by The Huffington Post: Pets May Help Improve Social Skills of Children with Autism

What do you think? Are service dogs a good idea in this case?