CCI trains four types of Canine Companion Teams:

Service Teams: People with physical and/or developmental disabilities who work with a Canine Companion to enhance their ability to perform practical tasks such as retrieving dropped items, opening doors, and turning on/off light switches.

Hearing Teams: Adults who are hard of hearing or deaf who use a Canine Companion to alert them to everyday sounds such as telephones, alarm clocks, and smoke detectors.

Skilled Companion Teams: Adults and children with disabilities who benefit from the social, interactive, and functional commands of a Canine Companion. This type of placement increases the communication, range of motion and interactive skills of some recipients.

Facility Teams: Adults who work as professional care givers, educators, or in other settings that can utilize a Canine Companion to improve the mental, physical, or emotional health of individuals, young and old in those settings.

CCI Regional Centers
Santa Rosa, CA; Oceanside, CA; Delaware, OH; Farmingdale, NY; and Orlando, FL
 

Xander is a six-year-old boy diagnosed with autism.

Xander and his parents recently graduated Team Training with a Skilled Companion dog named Woody.

Woody is a black lab who was bred and trained by CCI for the purpose of assisting a disabled individual. As a Skilled Companion dog, Woody will provide Xander with many services and benefits which may include:

Constant and unconditional companionship that will enable Xander to bond not only with Woody, but to build bonds with others as well.

A bridge between Xander and the community at large providing Xander a comfort zone wherever he may travel.

An incentive to interact and communicate with a variety of people.

A sense of responsibility and self-confidence from being the care-taker and provider for his Canine Companion.

The ability to process sensory input more readily, allowing Xander to function in settings outside his home more typically.

Physical interaction and focal point in public that will help to prevent the flight syndrome that causes Xander to run unexpectedly when he is unsure or afraid of a situation.

A sense of independence that comes from Xander being able to accomplish things himself.

An increase in natural seratonin production derived from the pleasure of a boy and his dog.

For more information on Canine Companions for Independence:

CCI Southeast Regional Center
8150 Clarcona Ocoee Road
P.O. Box 680388
Orlando, FL 32868-0388

Phone: 407-522-3300
Fax: 407-522-3347
www.cci.org