AGXStarseed
Well-Known Member
(Not written by me)
Teams from the South Carolina Search and Rescue Dog Association trained at Springbrook Autism Behavioral Health in Greenville Wednesday to become familiar with children who have the condition.
The Springbrook staff, outpatients and their families participated in mock searches and interacted with the dogs for the event, which was held to mark Autism Awareness Month.
Children with autism are four times more likely to wander away than other children are, officials said.
But the dogs need additional training when searching for these children, who may be frightened of animals or not understand what is happening.
It helps the dogs learn how to search in high-risk situations, keep the children calm, and it teaches children how to respond when approached by one of the dogs, officials said.
SCSARDA is an all-volunteer professional search-and-rescue team that helps find lost children and hikers, people with Alzheimer's disease, drowning victims and others.
The dogs and their handlers assist emergency services agencies in the Upstate and Western North Carolina, according to SCSARDA. They occasionally serve as support for other areas of South Carolina and Eastern Georgia as well.
To learn more, go to www.scsarda.org.
Source: At Greenville event, search and rescue dogs train to find children with autism
Teams from the South Carolina Search and Rescue Dog Association trained at Springbrook Autism Behavioral Health in Greenville Wednesday to become familiar with children who have the condition.
The Springbrook staff, outpatients and their families participated in mock searches and interacted with the dogs for the event, which was held to mark Autism Awareness Month.
Children with autism are four times more likely to wander away than other children are, officials said.
But the dogs need additional training when searching for these children, who may be frightened of animals or not understand what is happening.
It helps the dogs learn how to search in high-risk situations, keep the children calm, and it teaches children how to respond when approached by one of the dogs, officials said.
SCSARDA is an all-volunteer professional search-and-rescue team that helps find lost children and hikers, people with Alzheimer's disease, drowning victims and others.
The dogs and their handlers assist emergency services agencies in the Upstate and Western North Carolina, according to SCSARDA. They occasionally serve as support for other areas of South Carolina and Eastern Georgia as well.
To learn more, go to www.scsarda.org.
Source: At Greenville event, search and rescue dogs train to find children with autism