A Cup of Comfort for Parents of Children with Autism by EDITED BY COLLEEN SELL;

Author:EDITED BY COLLEEN SELL;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: epub, ebook

How the Goose Saved Christmas

“T hat's it,” I declared, facing down my husband. “We're getting a dog.”

It had been an on-again, off-again discussion for months. The entire time, our three kids had all been fervently pro, my husband had been soundly con, and I had wavered like a bowl of Jell-O.

I was aware of the difficulties involved, of course, but frankly, I was not willing to confront another flock of geese. My mind was made up: We were definitely getting a dog.

My daughters hadn't always liked dogs. In fact, both of them started out life terrified of them. But as time went on, the furry guys had clearly grown on them. They were willing to take the plunge.

Andrew, our autistic son, however, has always loved dogs. Since he was an infant, his cherubic, Down syndrome face has lit up at the sight of any canine in the vicinity. Once when he was five, he ran a full block in order to get to a dog. It was a new dog, one we'd never seen before, but the owner graciously allowed Andrew to pet (read: lie across with full body) her little terrier. Then, alas! As the woman led away her pup, we caught sight of Spike the golden retriever just leaving with his owner on the opposite side of the park. Desperate to get to Spike, Andrew booked it across the park in record time in order to greet his beloved and profusely shedding friend.

Mind you, Andrew was not known to have extraordinary endurance at the time. In fact, only a few weeks later, his school team made running fifty feet one of his IEP (Independent Education Program) goals.

“He can do that already, you know,” I pointed out. The entire team — teacher, special education teacher, physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist, and gym teacher — looked askance at me. “Surely not,” their unified expressions read.

“Put a dog at the end of that fifty feet, and I assure you, he will run it every time,” I insisted.

Comprehension dawned. What I was saying clicked. The woman has something there, they recognized.

Andrew's delight in — and some might say, obsession with — dogs was as well known as his fascination with elephants. Not too many elephants frequented the local parks, though, so Andrew's enthusiasm had always been directed to the dog population … until the day he found the geese.

Our neighborhood was graced with a number of well-equipped parks, and we liked to visit them each in turn. One park had a playground right next to the street, but the grounds included a long vacant field and a lake. Following the unspoken but never-broken rule of swings first, I'd struck up a conversation with another mom as I pushed Andrew and Lauren, my youngest, on the swings. After a while, the park routine exhausted (swings, monkey bars, slide, swings again), Andrew contented himself for a while exploring the no-mans-land of the grassy field, while Lauren rediscovered sand. All seemed quiet on the

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