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Jonathan and Lady's Story
Jonathan is 11 years old and struggles daily with the challenges he faces due to being autistic. We have worked hard with Jonathan over the years and have made significant progress.
At age 4 1/2 Jonathan had no intelligible language, but was using pictures and sign language for communication. Now Jonathan is talking for which we are very proud, but he continues to work at developing his language as it is not typical for his age. As is true for other autistic people, Jonathan also struggles with social situations, expressing emotion appropriately and simply understanding the world around him in ways the rest of us take for granted.
In September 2004 while surfing the internet late one night, I came across a site that brought me to tears. Some how I had managed to find the site for 4 Paws for Ability in Xenia, Ohio. It was like a dream come true, the agency was only 10 minutes away from our new house! We had been discussing getting a dog for Jonathan since he loves animals and was asking for a dog, yet I also knew that as a Mom of three kids my plate was full and the last thing I needed was a puppy!! A Service Dog just made sense! A dog specially trained for Jonathan to be not only his friend but to help him through meltdowns and hopefully help him avoid some meltdowns!! I called my husband to the computer and he agreed...this was what we needed to do! We filled out the necessary applications and before we knew it the ball was rolling!
Fundraising was a new adventure, but due to the generosity of friends and family and also matching funds from a local company we were able to raise our funds in 5 months. We were matched with a young black lab named "Lady" and scheduled to train in the March 2005 class.
Training was more work than I had imagined but it was magical to see these kids with their dogs and the bonds beginning to develop. We had a bit of an interruption in training when Jonathan had his first (and so far only) seizure. Both Karen and Jeremy (the trainer) said we could take Lady with us on the ambulance and to the hospital...we had had her for less than 48 hours and everything was still so new and we were overwhelmed and decided to let Jeremy keep her for us till we got back. In hind sight we should have taken her, but it showed us how fast these kids bond as Jonathan cried later that night for his "Lady". We would return to training and be reunited and that sealed it for me!
Over the last 4 months we have watched the bond continue to deepen as Jonathan is able to rely on Lady when he starts to feel overwhelmed, scared, tired, or just needs help. He calls her and then lays down with her, usually laying his head on Lady. Sometimes he just hugs her neck and yet other times he needs lots of kisses!
Once, at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Jonathan was looking at a display with a medic and an injured solider. This was difficult for Jonathan who lives in a literal world. I could tell he was beginning to have trouble and tried to encourage him away from the display with no success. Then I brought Lady beside him and just said, "Jonathan, why don't you tell Lady what you see." Sure enough he started talking to her and I could see him relaxing as he talked. Then I suggested he show Lady another plane and just like that he was off and going taking Lady to the next display!
Sometimes Jonathan will froth and drool during a meltdown and Lady jumps in with kisses which are not always initially welcomed but that eventually help pull him out of the meltdown. But it is when you walk past the door and hear him just talking to Lady that you can really see what she means to him. He wants to tell her all about everything and if anything happens that is important to him he always says to us, "Tell Lady....." Having Lady has been a blessing for our family as a whole. Of course it isn't a cure for autism, but it is making it easier for Jonathan to cope in this world that doesn't understand what it is like to be autistic.
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