Raise funds for Autism Service Dog for our Son

 

 

Hi there, we are Paul and Hannah McLean. You may know us as Cross and Jaye from the Twitch channel, Comics and the Cross.

 

We have been blessed to have become the parents of 3 beautiful children and each of them have amazing and unique personalities. Today we are here about our oldest, Matthew.

 

 

 Four years ago, Matthew was diagnosed with ASD, (or Autism), global developmental delay and sensory processing disorder.

Over the last 4 years this dude has gone from being completely non-verbal and having severe and self harming meltdowns to being semi-verbal. We now have emerging conversation skills, including being able to script multiple lines of dialogue and to utilize self coping where he rarely harms others or himself in frustration.

He is now at school in a Special Education program and is showing, in a academic sense, he is a few years ahead of other children his age.

 

However, Matthew still struggles when it comes to interacting and connecting socially and coping with not getting to have things his way. Especially when it  deviates from a set or expected routine. He also continually struggles with elopement issues, where given the chance, he will run off on his own, with no sense of danger, and does not always adhere to requests to stop or come back to an adult. Finally we are continually working on his self management of body placement and sensory needs. Many of these things can be addressed by the various therapies that he is in, some of them are hard for a therapy to teach. This lead my wife and I to research more options that can help besides in person therapies.

 

 

In this research, Jaye found there are amazing organizations that can provide people with Autism with fully trained service dogs. These dogs can assist with elopement issues,  learn to read their persons emotional state, become aware of when they are becoming anxious or overwhelmed, even provide deep pressure, in order to help the person with Autism to calm down or relax before a big meltdown happens. The service dogs in return naturally teach and help the person with Autism to figure out their personal cues so someday, they may be more independent and self advocate for what they need. 

 

The organization we have found is Loyalty Service Dogs

 

 

They are a smaller organization based in Nevada. We have been in conversations for a while and it is a program that we are excited to partner with.

The biggest issue for many special needs families is the financial piece of the puzzle. This type of service is not seen as a necessity to insurance companies so in return they do not pay for it.

The total for getting this Dog is about $27,000. This is the total price including the trainer bringing the dog to Virginia when the training is complete. 

How the program works is you start with with a 30% down payment (around $9,000) needed to start the search for a lab, golden retriever, poodle, goldendoodle or labradoodle puppy. The family can choose a specific breed if they choose. Then the training begins. The company sends pictures, has zoom meets, etc to make sure the family stays connected during the whole process. They even suggest to give them any specific information that we can in order to help with training. For example, if the person with autism says a certain phrase  or certain noise before a meltdown, they will train the dog to respond to that cue. This training usually takes a year to complete. Once the training is complete they will relocate the dog to VA and we will be trained for a bit on how to handle the dog appropriately to Matthews needs. 

 

Although this gofundme is for the full amount, we are not expecting the full amount to be solely donated money. Both Cross and Jaye will be adding any money they save to this page. It was the easiest way to keep all the money together in one location, especially with all the various fundraising events that we do, having one location will make it easier to keep track. This also helps you to share in our journey and we will continue to share any updates throughout it. 

Our first main event will be a 12 hour fundraising stream on Comics in the Cross in April. We are so excited to start! 

 

If you feel directed to give any amount we are honestly thankful. This is a step towards helping my son cope with the world around him and be closer to a self assured, self sufficient life as a child with autism, teenager and finally an adult with Autism.

 

Thank You!