Hypoallergenic dogs are more sanitary? Um, they just lack a specific protein in their dander that people tend to be sensitive to.
Anyway, I'm more in the camp that service dogs aren't really appropriate for the vast majority of autistic children. I won't say all, because nothing is ever black and white. Essentially though, service dogs are there somehow to mitigate their handler's disability and enable them to function on a fuller level than they would otherwise.
Children are not autonomous beings in our society. At younger ages they are always under the direct supervision and care of an adult. Aside from emotional comfort, there really isn't anything a trained dog could provide for the child that the adult caregiver can't or shouldn't be doing themselves.
Therapy dogs, are a totally different matter though. I think a therapy dog for an autistic child is a fabulous idea. Where, the dog doesn't necessarily have all the access rights of a regular service dog, but in the home or perhaps in a specialized school setting, the dog could really be of some benefit to the child. That's an entirely different function though.
