Being Nice to Pets

Hi J.,
My youngest grandson (almost 3 yrs old) has Autism and I have been in the special education field for 17 yrs now. Children (and adults) with Autism learn best with picture stories. Go on-line or to your local library or book store and research Autism and pictorial stories concerning appropriate touch with animals. You need to give a positive reward for being gentle and a negative consequence for being too rough.

You are actually fortunate that your child likes animals. Our little guy doesn't care for animals and our dog just loves him to death but every time our dog gets in "his space" he'll scream at the dog. It's sort of funny. He tolerates the dog to a point though. We took our grandson to a petty zoo thinking this would help but all he wanted to do was play in the gravel. So we let him play in the gravel because that's what he was happy doing.

Sometimes you have to just "pick your battles" and as long as your pet is tolerating the child's roughness, then ok ... the pet will let your child know when enough is enough. If you'd ever like to correspond in private, please feel free.
Blessings,
D.

To go with Deb L's post on books...there is a great book called "Tails are not for Pulling". It has very nice pictures with many different types of pets. My son loves it...

My son has autism too. He's also 5. Have you tried the usual behavioral methods? Social stories, picture cues, positive reinforcement, etc.? He may not understand the the animals are "real" and have feelings. I would try a social story about how to take care of pets. Additionally, you probably are going to have to supervise him until he understands. Unfortunately, that's just how it goes sometimes!

Good luck!
J.

Hi J.,
My son has Down syndrome and we have some of the same issues, particularly when he is tired. I'm looking forward to see what other advice you get. Thanks for asking the question.
I don't have anything new except to keep doing what you are doing.
You might try asking his therapists or a behavior expert.

Good luck with it,
K.

J.,
My son (who is 2 1/2) has been over-loving our dog as well! I got a great book from the library called, "Be Gentle with the Dog, Dear!". It's a great book that puts names to the actions they are performing - i.e. "tackling, squeezing, etc." It has helped me be able to name the things he's doing to the dog while he's doing them, and remind him that Roxie doesn't like that. I play the empathy card with him. We also talked to the baby in the book, saying, "No no baby. Don't tackle the dog," which I would repeat to him when he'd do it. Anyway, worth it to check it out!
Best of luck,
Amy K

Wow- do I understand what you're going through. My autistic 10 year old loved several of our bunnies to death last year.

The cats have learned to avoid him and the dog has learned not to come when he calls. Most animals are smart enough to learn who they want to be around. Occasionally I have had to rescue a poor cat who got caught (sleeping in his toy box was not a good idea).... Just keep trying and let the animals decide.... and maybe you should avoid bunnies for a while.