This is our story....
please help us in our goal to be able to get our family an autism support dog, at the moment there is no funding available from outside agency's . We have a unique family 5 out of 6 of our members are on the autistic spectrum, each with there own difficulties, and a support dog would help each in a different way.
Shannon was 1st diagnosed with asd at the age of 4, she has since been diagnosed with Childhood Disintegrative Disorder , Shannon is now 12 . She has the most difficult condition, and with it being so rare, most doctors have only read about the condition and very little have seen it 1st hand, her day to day life is challenging and different every day, she has the strength of 10 men and she uses this ability in the form of extreme violence to all around her including family members, we have spent years coming up with calming strategies, some working better than others, she's mostly non verbal however occasionally she will sing at you, within seconds she's throwing anything not nailed down .Her sleep is around a few hours each night, her energy levels are through the roof, an assistant dog could help alert us quicker in the night as well as provide calming measures, Shannon spends all of her time outside the home in a specially adapted restraint wheelchair, to prevent her from harming herself, sensory issues, Shannon is fully mobile in the home and never uses her chair unless the restraints are needed, our goal is to get her walking outside, attached to the dog.
We also have Kevin 18, Kieran 13, and David 9, all have ASD they have there challenging points, and each of these would greatly benefit from a support dog, David dashing out into a road, company for Kieran who struggles with people, and Kevin, who has sleep issues. Then there's myself I wasn't diagnosed asd until late,with many difficulties over the years from childhood till today.A support dog will benefit me emotionally and my husband/superdad/carer/physical restbite