A Service Dog For Preston

Preston was born in 2015 and completely stole our hearts. He grew so fast. He started walking at 9 months. Started running at 10 months. But one thing Preston never really developed was his voice.

We assumed he was just a late talker. He would speak when he’s ready. We let it go. But then by 2 years old he still had no words. So we began speech therapy. But we started noticing other things. Preston’s regression towards foods, and textures. Stimming and lack of eye contact. Meltdowns that lasted over an hour. Hurting himself in the process. The meltdowns are so hard on him. Even to this day.

What we thought would just be speech therapy turned into an evaluation where Preston was diagnosed with level 3 autism, twice.  He was also diagnosed with receptive language disorder. Which means the world is a big scary confusing place a big chunk of the time. Anyways... We had no clue what autism was. But we learned. The moment we did we dove into it head first. I read everything. We gave him all the tools he needed to navigate life on the spectrum.  He’s in full time therapy now and thriving. He just turned 4 and is still completely nonverbal but he is now using a talk device to communicate.

One big thing about Preston is he isn’t a social kid. He doesn’t understand imaginative play so he struggles socially. He also likes his space and usually doesn’t get along with most children his age because of the lack of boundaries. Not because he’s mean but he truly doesn’t understand. Sometimes I feel like he barley likes us. 🙂

Because of him struggling socially, being nonverbal with receptive language disorder as well as my husband being in the military and us moving around every three years we worry about him.

We worry about him making friends. It takes a long time for him to be comfortable with someone. It’s not easy for him. So my husband and I started looking into getting him a service dog. It would benefit him managing a lot of what comes with being on the spectrum like stimming, meltdowns, elopement, Preston has no sense of danger. He will walk straight into a busy road or a large body of water without understanding the danger of it. We have to constantly be on our toes in public places.

The problem is a service dog is $17,000.00. Because of the time it takes to raise them and train them.  Once we raise the money they start the process of training the dog specifically for Preston’s medical needs. We want this so badly for him but we can’t do it alone. We need help.  So if you could donate anything that’d be great, if not if you could share this that would be even better.

“So, what is a service animal? A service animal is not just a pet or companion. “Service animals perform some of the functions and tasks that the individual with a disability cannot perform for him or herself”

The training of the dog is extensive! They teach the dog to track Preston, comfort him when he gets too upset or anxious, interrupt him from certain stimming or behaviors. Lean on him to give him pressure when he needs sensory input. As well as being tethered to Preston so he can’t run out in the road or run off. It takes around 2 years before we will receive the dog once we raise the money but the benefits are so worth the wait. I can’t explain how much this would benefit Preston. If you can’t donate then please, please share!!

If you’d like to know more about Preston before donating or just to follow his journey he has a Facebook Page called Days With Preston.

Preston is magic to us. He is one of the purest souls you’ll ever meet. He gives incredible hugs and if you’re lucky he might look you in the eyes. Preston opened our eyes to a word we had no idea existed. A world of belly laughs and stimming, a world of spinning and rolling. A world of little moments being big moments.

A beautiful world.

If you give him the chance he might show you too.