MONTREAL—You probably know the MIRA Foundation as the organization that trains seeing-eye dogs, however a decade ago they also began training dogs to work with children with autism. MIRA says the results have been incredible.
As much as you may love your dog, meet a family that says their pooch has changed their lives.
Morgan is the best friend of five-year-old Olivier and his four-year-old brother Mathieu.
Both boys have autism. At first it meant leaving the house was nearly impossible because the boys would get extremely stressed and no one was sleeping because Olivier would have night terrors.
“It's like a heart attack when your kid is waking up and yelling,” said their father, Eric Beaudouin.
But then, along came Morgan and almost immediately things started to change. Olivier's night terrors vanished. When the boys had to leave the house, Morgan was the perfect security blanket
“We are a normal family now,” said Eric.
It turns out dogs can reduce stress to an amazing degree. Dr. Sonia Lupien measured levels of cortisol in children. Cortisol is the hormone secreted when people are stressed. When dogs were introduced into a family, cortisol levels decreased unlike anything Lupien had ever seen before.
“I've been measuring stress hormones for 22 years and I’ve measured it in different situations. I’ve seen increases and decreases, I’ve never seen such a very large decreased,” said the neuropsychologist.
“I never thought a human body could see such a decrease in stress hormones.”
Now, the MIRA Foundation is training more dogs.
Michele Cave is getting ready to bring home Pixel for her son. She believes it will help him be more social and help him with language.
“They matched the dog with the personality of my son and they did an amazing job I’m sure it's going to go super-well,” said Cave.
Within two years, MIRA will have 120 dogs working with children with autism.
