The trick is that I'm specifically looking for information about tasks...

My son's service dog specifically does these tasks among others on top of the emotional support that she provides for him...

1. Deep Pressure in response to anxiety/panic/tantrums
2. Keeps him from wandering (started with tethering and graduated to just redirecting)
3.Inserts herself between him or redirects him from danger and strangers
4. keeps him from sleepwalking out of the house
5. leads him out of the house in case of fire alarm (the alarm disorientates him and panics him and makes him walk into things or go the wrong direction)
6. keeps him in the yard
7.redirects him from repetitive or self harm behavior
8. alerts us when my son starts becoming disorientated from exposure to allergens (highly allergic to two different things that can be life threatening)

but these are not the only things his service dog does for him, a service dog for a SPD child must also be adept at reading cues and double as a therapy dog. When we first got Shadow for Lazarus he couldn't handle all kinds of sensory input including animals... I was highly skeptical that it would actually be a good fit for our family but it ended up being the best thing we ever did and has made my son more high functioning than therapy alone could have ever done. Of course individual tasks would be different in every case because no child is exactly the same.

Blessings,
Zoey

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My son had continuous problems with traffic, bolting out into the street, suddenly seeing a car and freaking out and going the wrong direction because he was disorientated, judging the distance, speed of the car, judging the step on the curb, getting disorientated from the lights and the car sounds. He is diagnosed with SPD... nothing else. Besides his allergies that is his only disorder.

Blessings,
Zoey

(06-13-2012, 01:47 PM)Marci Wrote:

(06-12-2012, 02:13 PM)Tuttleturtle Wrote: If it'd really help, I'd recommend contacting places, at least if you're staying in something like a bed&breakfast (which tend to be slightly more expensive, but more sensory friendly I've found), telling them the situation, and requesting permission for the cat to come. I'd also recommend getting the cat something that labels it as an animal that helps people - bandanas, collars with specific very visible tags, the capes of service animals, and so on are all good for that. With permission and something to show that the cat is more than a pet, its not unreasonable to get permission, its just something that its their decision.

This cat struts into the hotel lobby wearing his harness and leash, hops up on the check-in counter and greets the desk clerk. He doesn't care for his bandana.

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(06-12-2012, 02:06 PM)Dan Wrote:

(06-11-2012, 10:52 PM)Marci Wrote: I'm having a hard time understanding the link between SPD and walking into traffic. What particular "sense" of the sensory processing issues gives rise that situation?

I just wanted to step in and comment on this. I can clearly see walking out in front of cars as being part of the sensory processing picture. Heck, it's a common symptom.

Not noticing when vehicles are coming can clearly fall under the realm of sensory under-responsiveness. Also, not being able to judge how far away a vehicle is, how quickly it is coming, or what direction it is even coming from are definitely caused by sensory processing (and in particular, sensory discrimination) issues.

Remember, it takes proper sensory processing to realize there's a street, to check for vehicles, to determine whether or not it's safe, and to get out of the way quickly if someone is coming at you quickly. Without proper sensory processing, any or all of these things may be impaired.

Interesing interpretation on SPD, and one that is completely new to me. I've not encountered it in our experiences, nor seen that scenario mentioned in any of the literature. You say it is a common symptom, can you point to any documentation of that?

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My daughter has SPD and don't process pain she would go right in front of traffic and not think about it. She has no fear of getting hurt.

If anyone is interested, Lifeline Assistance Dogs, a service dog training organization, has a special category for Sensory Processing Disorder. While it seems like these dogs are linked with Autism service dogs, maybe they can be only for SPD. It also seems like many of the tasks folks are interested in having the dog do are also tasks that Autism service dogs do.

http://k9ll.com/training/service-dogs/se...order-dogs

(06-21-2012, 03:58 PM)Tuttleturtle Wrote: That's definitely something that needs to be thought about when it comes to the individual. Dogs aren't magic solutions and shouldn't be thought of as such - they have a lot of needs, take a lot of work, and cause their own problems because of being dogs as well as because of people treating you differently.

Anyone with hypersensitivities would need to explicitly take those into account if thinking about this. Slobber is another thing to take into account sensory-wise. It's not a decision to make lightly at all and that just adds to what needs to be thought about.

This isn't a magic solution for SPD. It just happens to be one I'm looking at for a potential for myself. Dogs aren't used for disabilities, they're used for people.

hey, its been 11 years since you posted this. just wondering did you ever find a solution/ what tasks did you find out about. cause im in the process of applying for a SD that would do tasks related to my spd. i have a washed SD that did things like crowd barriers alerted to stimming and higher heart rate did dpt (deep pressure therapy) check ins to bring me back to awareness and alerted when there where cars nearby. he was washed for unrelated reasons. but I'm looking to see what other tasks a SD would be able to do.