This is the story of Yoav (not his real name), a 3 year old who lived in Manhattan with his<\/p>\n
parents, where his father was an emissary, and who was diagnosed as high-functioning on the<\/p>\n
Autism Spectrum.<\/p>\n
The family came to Israel for a short visit and his mother wanted to experience therapeutic dog<\/p>\n
training since Yoav responded very positively to dogs. In order to take them as quickly as<\/p>\n
possible, we began a speedy diagnosis that included the regular consultations we have at TRCI.<\/p>\n
We arranged to have two sessions a week, for one month, which left us with only 8 sessions<\/p>\n
before their return to New York.<\/p>\n
This is how the therapeutic trainer tells the story:<\/p>\n
At our first session I met a sweet little boy of three, who was very excited to be in the kennels<\/p>\n
with his mother. Since I didn\u2019t know Yoav, I wasn\u2019t sure what would attract his attention, so I<\/p>\n
came to the first session equipped with a selection of accessories such as books and toys so that I<\/p>\n
could use them at the right moment.<\/p>\n
When we went into the yard with the dogs, we noticed that Yoav reacted very positively to them,<\/p>\n
but I still couldn\u2019t identify what exactly attracted him and how I would be able to enlist him in<\/p>\n
the process, so at the next session I brought many more accessories.<\/p>\n
During the third session I decided to try and work with Thelma, one of the female dogs, since I<\/p>\n
had seen that Yoav was most interested in her. In order to focus on the therapeutic process, we<\/p>\n
moved into the dogs\u2019 activity area. As soon as we were in place, I invented a game where he and<\/p>\n
Thelma alternated getting onto the installations. That is a highly complex ability for an autistic<\/p>\n
child, which requires that he sees the other on the one hand, and delays his own satisfaction on<\/p>\n
the other hand.<\/p>\n
For the rest of the sessions I managed to establish a regular program, in which we took turns on<\/p>\n
the installations \u2013 Yoav and Thelma, and afterwards we would sit in chairs and give Thelma<\/p>\n
snacks. In addition, we invented games around the distribution of the snacks, which included<\/p>\n
going in and out of the routine, which is imperative for an autistic child.<\/p>\n
Towards the end of the process, after having assimilated the regular program and creating the<\/p>\n
right environment for the work, we were forced to shorten the final session, due to the family\u2019s<\/p>\n
return to New York. However, it had become very clear that therapeutic dog training was<\/p>\n
definitely a preferable and effective channel of therapy for Yoav, who achieved results even after<\/p>\n
this short period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is the story of Yoav (not his real name), a 3 year old who lived in Manhattan with his parents, where his father was an emissary, and who was diagnosed as high-functioning on the Autism Spectrum. The family came to Israel for a short visit and his mother wanted to experience therapeutic dog training […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3760,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[130],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-en"],"yoast_head":"\n