A Furry Friend for Beck & Mylo

Our Story:

Beck and Mylo Cramer are two adventurous, inquisitive, and loving boys. Like many other little boys their age, they love spending their days playing Legos, reading, and running wild outside. Unlike many other little boys, though, Beck and Mylo also both have autism. Both boys struggle daily with severe anxiety, making it impossible to navigate normally throughout the day.

Beck, 5, was diagnosed with autism, sensory processing disorder, and a phonological disorder in 2011. Mylo, 4, was also recently diagnosed with autism, an anxiety disorder, and an oral motor disorder. Both boys are amazing blessings in our lives, but the combination of these different disabilities can make our family life very challenging. Mylo’s anxiety affects almost everything we do, and makes simple things like going to the park or library impossible. Both boys get overwhelmed when there are large crowds, noise, or too much visual stimulation. Behavior problems and tantrums are also a constant issue, and though the boys are making good progress with therapies, we need more help getting our boys through the day. That is where an autism service dog comes in.

Autism service dogs can be taught a wide array of tasks to assist children families. According to a recent report from the British Medical Association, service dogs have been shown to greatly relieve anxiety, help to anchor or tether children to their caregivers, and help foster more social acceptance and interaction out in the world. They can also be trained in deep pressure therapy, where the dog will lean or compress the child during meltdowns and outbursts to help alleviate behavioral problems.

We have already chosen a trainer, A Better Pet LLC., for our service dog and have begun the fundraising process with good success, but we have a long way to go.  Please help us bring the newest member of our family into our home, so that our boys can live happier days and fuller lives with autism.