Avery is an amazing, smart, and playful 4-year-old who is filled with joy. He was diagnosed with Nonverbal Autism and major sensory food aversions when he was just over 2 years old. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication, and behavioral challenges. There is no cure for Autism, however, there are a number of interventions and tools which have proven effective in helping a person with Autism. One tool can be an Autism Service Dog, which we feel is perfect for Avery based on his love for dogs. After extensive research and consideration, we decided to start the process of getting him an Autism Service Dog through 4 Paws for Ability.
4 Paws Autism Assistance Dogs can be trained in a variety of tasks to assist a child. These include behavior disruption to distract and disrupt repetitive behaviors or meltdowns, tethering to prevent and protect a child from wandering, and search and rescue tracking to locate a child who has wandered.
An Autism Assistance Dog would benefit Avery in many ways, such as:
- Performing deep pressure by lying across his lap when he gets upset.
- Snuggling or giving kisses when Avery is upset and crying.
- Improve Avery’s sleep just by being present and snuggling.
- Using search and rescue skills to follow Avery’s scent and lead us to him, should he ever wander off.
- Prevent wandering while out in public by being tethered to Avery.
- Friendship.
- Becoming a social bridge leading to incentive to communicate.
- Assisting with transitions.
- Teaching responsibility.
We are asking for your help in our efforts to raise the money needed for our son to become one of the many children benefiting from a service animal.