Sunny's Autism Service Dog Tasks

The most common question we get from people is-  what does Sunny do for Charlie?  Here are the most common tasks Sunny is trained to do for Charlie on a daily basis:

Sleep

Sunny is Charlie's constant through everything.  She goes wherever he goes and is a reminder to him that she is there to help, no matter what.  Charlie didn't start sleeping through the night until after he was 4 years old.  And most of those nights were spent sleeping with mom and dad.  Even to this day, Charlie struggles with sleep, but with Sunny it's more manageable.

Charlie has always felt more secure with deep pressure on his body.  I made his first weighted blanket  for him when he was 3 years old.  He still sleeps with a weighted blanket, but he also utilizes Sunny every night.  Most nights Sunny will take her position right next to or on top of Charlie.  Throughout the night, after Charlie is asleep, Sunny will go back and forth between laying with Charlie and laying on the floor.

Transitions

Transitions are such a hard thing for autism kiddos to do.  We're talking about transitioning from one task to another.  Maybe it's transitioning from the house to the car to go somewhere, or transitioning from home to school or school to home.  It can be transitioning from dinner to the bath tub for a bath.  Or something super simple such as transitioning from upstairs in our house to downstairs to do a different activity.  Transitions are something most people do without even thinking of them, but can be super overwhelming to Charlie.  The more transitions that happen in a short amount of time can be debilitating to him.  Transitions are distracting, overwhelming and can make it hard for him to focus on what is going on.  Since Sunny is Charlie's constant, it helps him to have her by his side to make transitions easier to deal with.  She can help make things go much smoother during transition periods.  Charlie can hold on to her, feel her fur, talk to her and know that he can get through those tougher moments.  In the picture below, Charlie was taking a break with Sunny while at the Mall of America where there were obviously lots of transitions.  

Car Rides

Charlie's threshold on car rides is about an hour.  Much longer than that and we need to plan for breaks.  Before Sunny, we rarely had a trip into Rochester (15 minute drive) without crying and screaming.  We're still not entirely sure what it is about being in the car that he can't handle.  We're thinking it's likely sensory overload for him with the different noises in a small space and the sight of outside passing by him quickly.  Regardless of what it is, Sunny has helped immensely.  She is always positioned right in front of his seat.  She was trained to lay down when the vehicle is in motion, so that is usually where she is, but in the chance that Charlie is having a hard time Sunny sits in front of Charlie and lays her head in his lap.  This gives Charlie a distraction from what's bothering him and it gives him a little bit of deep pressure on his lap to  help calm him.

Deep Pressure Therapy

Deep Pressure Therapy (DPT) is firm pressure applied to the body.  This is often very calming to kids on the Autism spectrum.  And we found Charlie enjoyed deep pressure early on in his life.  This is an important job for Sunny since Charlie utilizes this so often.  Plus, she can do it anywhere we are!  This is partly what helps Charlie calm down and sleep at night when Sunny lays on him in bed. 

The picture directly below- Sunny was using DPT to help Charlie before he became really upset.  It's obviously helping since he has a huge smile on his face.  And the shirt he's wearing?  Yep, that's a compression shirt.  I told you he likes deep pressure!

"Lap" command

The next picture was taken on a day that the transition from school to home did not go well.  You can see we barely got coat and bags off before Charlie needed Sunny for deep pressure.  When Charlie is visibly upset, Sunny knows to go to Charlie but she doesn't necessarily take action on her own.  Tyler or I need to give Sunny a command so she knows what we want her to do.  When we want her to lay on Charlie for DPT we give her the "full on" command.  She knows her job is to lay right on top of him.  If Charlie needs some deep pressure when he's sitting down we give her the "lap" command and she gets part way onto Charlie's lap.  Charlie is able to give her these commands too.  

I just love the look on Sunny's face on this next one.  She looks really proud of herself.  Nailed it!

Socializing

Kids on the Autism Spectrum typically have a hard time socializing with others.  While Charlie is outwardly a pretty talkative kid, he has a hard time connecting and knowing what behavior is socially acceptable around others.  Sometimes he'll do and say some awkward things.  Sunny has been able to be a social buffer for Charlie.  He loves showing her off to people and talking to people about her.  

Block & Cover

Sunny is trained to "block"- stand in front of Charlie when we're in the community to help keep him from walking into traffic or going in an area we don't want him to go.  She is also trained to "cover"- stand behind Charlie to help protect and keep people at a distance from behind.  

Stay Focused

Charlie gets easily distracted.  Sunny helps to keep him focused and on task with what we're doing.  This is especially helpful when we are out in public.  We encourage Charlie to hang on to the handle on Sunny's vest or the small leash attached to her vest when we are walking as it gives him something he needs to do.  This helps Charlie to stay with us when we are walking and not dart off in different directions.  We do NOT tether Charlie to Sunny- this is something we never felt the need to do.  We know some people feel the need to do this with their kids- especially if their kids are runners- and we know some others have strong opinions against it.  We do what works for Charlie.  Yes, sometimes Charlie has been known to run but we don't feel it warrants tethering. 

Charlie is hanging on to the handle on Sunny's vest as we walk through the mall.

Charlie prefers the handle on the vest as it brings him closer to Sunny, but sometimes he'll use the short leash we have attached to her vest for his use.

We constantly need to keep up on Sunny's training and the tasks she's been taught from the beginning.  There have been a couple of things we have seen her slack on if we don't use the tasks enough and in that case we focus on honing those skills again.  She's a smart dog and she takes her job seriously.  She's a different dog when she puts her vest on.  She knows she has a job to do when she's dressed in her vest.  Sunny has been such a blessing to Charlie......and the whole family for that matter.  Life is a little more calmer when she's involved.