Help Us Get Noah a Service Dog

Noah is an amazing, hazel eyed, 4-year-old boy with Autism, Global Development Delay, ADHD, Severe Receptive Expressive Communication Disorder, and OCD. We are looking to raise $14,500 to purchase the dog and put it though the extensive training it will need to help with his daily challenges, like staying calm and safe. These dogs are life-changing, but come at a large cost. Any support, even just sharing this, brings us closer to being able to give Noah the help that he needs.

Like many children on the spectrum, Noah faces unique challenges every day. Noah wakes up to a world that's a little louder, a little brighter, a little more overwhelming. We would do anything to give Noah a world where he's not in a constant battle with his senses. Being able to give him a furry guardian that can help us bring a little more calm, safety, and joy would be life changing. We believe that a service dog would significantly improve his quality of life.

Noah has significant developmental delays. Though he will soon be 5 years old, developmentally he is roughly 2 years old. After trying our hand at Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, even preschool with an IEP, full time ABA therapy was the next step. Roughly a year ago prior to starting ABA, Noah was nonverbal; struggling to use an AAC device to communicate. Flash forward to now and Noah is able to use 2-3 words together to request toys, food, drinks, etc. It's been a long emotional journey, and will continue to be so. But we are making progress every single day.

Everyday life is not easy. It has been extremely challenging to get out and go places together as a family due to safety concerns such as elopement and sensory overwhelm, leading to self injurious behavior like head banging. Trained autism service dogs are able to calm and stabilize sensory overwhelm and self injurious behaviors and if needed, physically prevent children from unsafely running off. They can even be trained to track the child's scent if they were to wander off.

Noah has been dealt a challenging hand of cards in life. But our goal is and will always be to provide him with the most functional life we can.