
We love partnering with outside organizations, and individuals in the autism community to educate ourselves on best practices, as well as to hear their perspectives. Our blog today is written by Kadin McElwain, an autism advocate and public speaker. Kadin is an autistic college student with a passion for advocacy, and we are grateful he contacted us so we can share his article with all of you. You can read it below and appreciate the picture of his adorable dogs above:
At home, I have two dogs and two cats, who are some of my best friends. At first, I wasn’t sure how hanging out with animals could help me, a high-functioning autistic person, improve my social skills. However, after two weeks of hanging out with them, my social skills improved tremendously to the point where I became open to joining a few groups for autistic individuals. These groups are online, but I wouldn’t have been open to taking that first step to socializing with my clan if it wasn’t for my animals. But how can hanging out with animals, whether it be a pet or a random animal in the woods, be the first step in helping individuals on the autism spectrum improve their social skills? Well, there are three factors to consider.
The first factor to consider when introducing a new animal friend to your autistic child is how therapeutic such an endeavor can be. Research has repeatedly shown that having an individual interact with animals, especially individuals with physical or mental conditions, can help improve mental health. In the sense of my own experiences with this first point, when my three siblings went through a traumatic event at their school, they brought therapy dogs the next day so the mental health of the students at the school could be improved. This significantly helped my siblings and their classmates not only be able to calm down after such a traumatic event, but it also felt amazing to have dogs in the classroom. For autistic individuals, having a pet can increase self-esteem and calm them down if they’re in a stressful situation.
The second point to consider when introducing an animal friend to your autistic child is that it teaches responsibility. In today’s generation, some children cannot take responsibility for the tasks that they are assigned, or worse, they don’t keep their word when they say they’ll commit to a task. But having a pet can teach your child, autistic or not, about responsibility by having them take care of it every day. This includes feeding the pet, taking it outside to do its business, taking it for walks, giving it water, and giving it love overall. If the child is responsible with the pet, they’ll most likely take that responsibility and apply it to other aspects of their life, such as school, morning chores, and jobs. This can result in your child having a successful life and successful relationships.
The final point to consider when introducing your autistic child to a new pet is that pets can help your child improve their social skills. One of the hardest things for autistic individuals to do is make new friends due to a fear of rejection. They might have difficulty embracing who they are and lack the self-confidence to put themselves out there. Introducing a pet to the family and your child can help them practice their social skills and improve their self-confidence. Additionally, a relationship with a pet can help your child apply what they’ve learned to their human relationships, improving those in the process. So having a pet can make a huge impact socially.
Autistic individuals can find it extremely hard to make friends and maintain human relationships. They might feel anxious about rejection due to who they are and might not think it’s important. But introducing a new animal friend to your child can help improve their mental health, encourage responsibility, and improve their social skills, so they can apply them to human relationships. More importantly, just like my dogs have done for me, your child will have a best friend for life. That’s what the goal is at the end of the day.
If you would like to reach out to Kadin to ask questions about his article, or to connect about further autism advocacy opportunities, you can find him on Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/in/kadin-ronald-mcelwain-015031297/
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