Thick, curly red hair.  Big, intense sea-green eyes fringed with long, blonde lashes.  A sturdy little body that is hardly ever still (excepting when asleep).  Dimples gracing his cheeks, even when he isn't smiling.  He looks like he could be a model, but one thing is holding him back.

That thing is autism.  Because of his disability, Michael doesn't relate to most people (let alone, children his age) and seems much younger than his five years.  He still sucks on a pacifier to calm himself when stressed or whenever change threatens to disrupt his routine.  He is not toilet-trained and is enrolled at a special school for kids with disabilities, including autism.  He talks very little and will often flap his hands or play with certain objects for hours.

Whenever he is stressed, Michael will scream and turn violent.  It is all we can do to keep him from destroying our place (or himself).  It isn't easy parenting a child with a disability that so many people have little undestanding about or one that makes them quick to judge.  We have been working with him to help him improve on his social/people skills, and one thing we think would help would be the companion of a service dog who could help him when he is struggling to understand the world around him or if he is around large groups of people.

We have been looking into the possibility of obtaining a service dog for Michael, but one thing is holding us back: the cost.  We may have to have a raffle or hold something like a bake sale or a car wash to help raise funds because we can't do it on our own.  My husband has been without a job for over six months and I am the sole breadwinner right now when I am not taking care of our son.  Money is tight and it doesn't help whenever Michael gets sick or has to have his therapy services several times a week.  (The only reason he CAN go to therapy and to a special school is because my mother ... his grandma ... is helping us out.)

Michael loves dogs anyway, and every day, he asks me, "Mommy ... Michael have moggie? Michael have moggie?"  It breaks my heart that we can't get him one; nothing would make us happier because a canine friend just might be the very thing Michael needs right now, to help him bring out of his autistic shell.  

Pray something can happen or that the money can come rolling in because it's so hard dealing with a child like Michael sometimes, especially when he has one of his meltdowns!  And pray that Jim (my husband) can find work; the bils are threatening to eat us alive!  Thanks in advance!

~Penny Overton, Pass Christian, Mississippi.