Meet Sophie. She has a riot of dark brown curls, cheeks as
round as apples, a little brother who likes to play dressup and a big
sister. Sophie also has a whole host of largely invisible special needs,
and now an autism service dog that shadows her every move. Sophie was
adopted as a baby by Mom Dana Davies-Hales and Tony Hales. She was three
when she was diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Neurological Developmental
disorder ( a condition that falls under the umbrella term of fetal
alcohol spectrum disorder, caused by prenatal alcohol exposure, and
PDD-NOS ( pervasive developmental disorder - not otherwise specified -
on the autism spectrum). She runs, is impulsive, lags developmentally,
has significant sensory issues, and generally isn't aware of danger.
Before her diagnosis, Mom and Dad began researching ways to better help
their child be safe and grow to become independent in the world and they
kept coming back to the idea of a service dog. Tonight they met with No
Frill's owner Brian Macdonald to thank him for their contributions to
President's Choice Children's Charities. The charity supports children
with disabilities and Macdonald noted often that means helping to give
families funds to modify their vehicle for a wheelchair. The charity
gave $10,000 towards the extensive training involved in getting Crosby
ready to help Sophie. Macdonald said he doesn't have a lot of
opportunities to meet with the people their charity helps and it was
great to see the impact their fundraising can have in person.
There are many ways to access a service dog, but a lot of them can be
very expensive because of the training involved. Dana and Tony
discovered Autism Dog Services (http://www.autismdogservices.ca/)
They are local to southwestern Ontario. "We just wanted to do the best
thing for Sophie," Dana said. "Sophie has many meltdowns because of
overstimulation, noises, sounds, lights. A service dog will help keep
her calm and grounded. Before a service dog it was hard to take Sophie
out in public because she would have many melt downs. She still
sometimes has a hard time but is able to stay out longer because of
having a service dog." Wade Beattie is the founder and
director of ADS. He began his career as a guide dog trainer/instructor
at Canine Vision Canada and for the past 13 years, has worked with
children with autism and their families. He has collaborated with some
of the world’s leading guide and service dog trainers and was a pioneer
in bringing autism service dogs to Canada. Crosby comes with a price tag
of $18,000 and the Davies-Hales family has been actively raising money
for well over one year. They've done barbecues and craft sales,
collected pop cans and raffled off Westjet tickets. Needless to say the
$10,000 contribution made by President's Choice goes a long way. The
store constantly runs fundraisers in store. Customers can contribute at
checkout or during specific campaigns. Autism
Dog Services is a non profit organization. They are not funded by
government, but rather the support of the community and their donations,
as well as fundraisers from the community and the wait list families. To
date the family has raised $13,000. They are still hoping to raise the
remainder - about $5,000 by the end of the year through donations and
various fundraisers. "Crosby offically became a
certified service dog a few weeks ago when he passed the public access
test. We couldn't be happier," said Dana. In
time Crosby is expected to help Sophie become more independent and
simply calm her down when she begins to bolt or have a meltdown. Service
dogs are beginning to be used with a wider range of disabilities than
they once were. Children with FASD and/or autism have been shown to
benefit often from the relationship, the grounding effect the dog has
and the simple fact that the animal can help improve socialization
skills. As well service dogs can help bridge the gap between children
with Autism and society. ♥ purchase cost of the dog ♥ dog food ♥ veterinary care until the dog is transitioned into the new family's home (approx. 18 mths to 2 years) ♥ complete training of the dog to A.D.I. standards (http://www.assistancedogsinternational.org/Standards/) ♥ training for parents in the care and handling of the dog ♥ training the child and dog together as a team ♥ equipment and identification ♥ ongoing support as required for the working life of the dog Or about $650 a month to train, foster and provide equipment, food and veterinary care. If you wish to help or donate to Sophie's dog. You can visit http://www.autismdogservices.ca/ just
make a memo that your donation is for Sophie Davies-Hales dog, and to
find out more about Sophie and fundraising events visit http://www.pawsforsophie.webs.com/ |
