Welcome to the painter family of ohio blog! We are a family of four, mom (Terri), dad (Paul), and two energetic boys (Ian 5yrs. and Sean soon to be 3yrs). We are setting up this blog to chronicle our journey of fundraising for and receiving our Autism Assistance Service dog for our son, Ian.
We applied to 4 Paws for Ability for an autism assistance dog and were accepted last October. We now need to fundraise 13,000 points/$ for 4 Paws to receive a service dog.

Ian is beginning to have some language, but still has periods where he will not use his words. He will not always answer to his name being called. He has escapes from the house are becoming more frequent as he is getting taller and his arms are getting longer. We hope that his service dog will help with search and rescue (when he escapes), behavior disruption (when he has his meltdowns), and tethering (when we go out so he doesn't run out into traffic or out of sight in a store/mall).

Ian was diagnosed with mil to moderate autism just after he turned 3yr old. He attends an awesome school which is full inclusion. His class is made up of approx 60% neurotypical peers and 40% ASD peers. He has been going to this school since February 2007. We he started he was essentially nonverbal and by Christmas 2007 he was saying words (cake, cookie, and candy cane). He also receives Speech therapy and OT.

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