Oliver is our kind, energetic and loving 6 year old son, who recently has been diagnosed with autism and moderate to severe ADHD. This makes school life in particular extremely hard, resulting in frequent exclusions from school which impacts heavily on his social interactions with his peers and the development of his relationships with others.

Normally, children with similar diagnosis' as Oliver have the option of medication to allow them to access the curriculum and to build positive bonds with children and adults, however, Oliver has a congenital heart defect meaning that this is not an option for him.

Autism Life Dogs are an organisation that trains and provides Labradors for children like Oliver to help them learn about positive relationships, deal with sensory processing and to keep them safe. These amazing dogs are trained to calm children, be their friend and to notice when dangers are arising. For example, Oliver is a runner, he can bolt off at any time and a dog from Autism Life Dogs would know how to cope with this situation. After having a particularly bad day at school, it can be extremely difficult to calm Oliver back down and his anxieties are at an extreme high, which can also worry us about his blood pressure linked to his heart problems. A specially trained dog would first of all be trained to cope in a situation where Oliver could be very loud and erratic (untrained dogs could react negatively to this) and then be there for him and aid him to de-escelate back down to where he needs to be. These dogs have the right to accompany the children everywhere, on transport, into shops, lots of places that Oliver finds a real struggle to cope with.

Paul, Oliver's Dad, is running the London Marathon in 2017 to raise money towards having one of these specialist dogs trained for Oliver. We appreciate any money donated and any efforts to share our fundraising story.