A dog helps the little boy with autism

We'd had our son Wesley checked out because of his continuing obsession with letters, numbers and counting things, and his seeming indifference to communicating with people, even though he had an enormous vocabulary. Wesley had spent the day being assessed by a team of specialists. They'd diagnosed him with autism spectrum disorder.

Out of everything the specialists had said, the only words I could remember were socialization and involvement—key for Wesley to develop social skills. In the car, we desperately brainstormed ways to make his world more social.It occurred to me that we were in need of a dog.Soon, we brought the dog Josie home the third week in December. Wesley just didn't seem that interested in her, no matter how adorable she was. But then I began to catch Wesley petting her when he thought no one was looking, usually in the back seat of the car.

Four months after we'd gotten Josie, I took the two of them out for a long play session. By the end, they were both exhausted. As soon as I put Wesley in his car seat, he fell asleep. He slept the whole way home, with Josie leaning her head on his shoulder. That's when I knew they had finally bonded. One of our biggest challenges was that Wesley had no sense of danger and didn't understand to “look both ways”. He would dart out into the street without warning. I was terrified he'd get hit by a car. Josie solved that problem. She was able to keep him safely on the sidewalk with us whenever we went out.

We didn't formally train Josie as a service dog.But she has proven to be exactly what Wesley needs.When he sits on the stairs, crying, because he's having a hard day or is in timeout, she sits quietly next to him, watching him with her soulful dark eyes. If he wants to reach out and hug her, he can. If not,Josie gives him his space. Once or twice, when Wesley was having a meltdown, Josie lay down on him, effectively a weighted blanket—something children with autism find very calming.

The best thing about having a dog is that kids come to you. Even the daily walk to the bus stop provides a fantastic opportunity for Wesley to socialize with other children. Kids pepper him with questions about Josie—How old is she? Can I pet her?—and we practice his answers at home so he's more comfortable talking in public. I finally learned how to make peace with autism while also fighting it.

阅读检测

1. Why was Wesley taken to check out?

A. He seldom communicated with others.

B. He seldom showed interest in learning.

C. He was buried in reading letters every day.

D. He had difficulty in memorizing vocabulary.

2. Which of the following is important for Wesley according to specialists?

A. An adorable dog.

B. A family full of love.

C. Socialization and involvement.

D. A special elementary school.

3. What seemed to challenge the author most?

A. Wesley seemed indifferent to Josie.

B. Wesley often had no sense of danger.

C. Josie was not a service dog for Wesley.

D. Josie was hard to be trained and raised.

语言学习

写作推荐

It occurred to me that we were in need of a dog. 我突然想起我们需要一条狗。

【信息提取】It occurred to sb that...意为“某人突然想起……”。

【句式仿写】我忽然想起来我忘记锁门了。