Liam is a 16 year old boy who resides in Auburn, PA. He lives with his parents, Lisa and Keith and his younger brother Devin, their one dog Belle and their cat, Shelby. Liam is a very happy and in his own way is a very social child. Liam currently attends school in a “special needs” class, Some of his favorite things to do are going to school and seeing his friends and teachers, listening to music, going to the movies, camping with his family, going to the airport to watch all the airplanes take off and land and interacting will all kinds of animals.
When Liam was 3 years old he was diagnosed with autism. He was, and still is to this day, provided with speech, OT and PT services. When Liam was 8 years old, he had his first seizure and was diagnosed with epilepsy. Liam has grand mal seizures and has had several seizures in the past few years. Recently with the last seizure he dislocated and fractured his shoulder. He is healing, but it’s been a long and slow process.
Sometimes, it is difficult for Liam to deal with changes, and he will become scared and will sometimes yell or cry if he does not want to be in a specific place. Liam has self-stimming behaviors, such as hand flapping, hand biting, spinning or unusual vocalizations and these behaviors are his way of dealing with the world around him.
He does well in school and has learned to read and write and continues to develop in these areas. His speech is coming along nicely and his articulation has improved tremendously the last year. He is now using 4 word sentences, but has to be told to speak slowly to be understood.
Liam loves animals, dogs and horses are among his favorite. We believe Liam can excel in certain areas with the use of service dog to help him feel more comfortable and at ease. He may be more apt to try new things and go new places with a dog by his side. This will allow us to do more activities as a family and not feel we have to exclude him from certain things due to his anxiety. We are also hoping that the service dog will be able to alert us before a seizure happens. A dog would also provide an extra measure of safety for him, since he has no fear of potentially dangerous situations. It would certainly be reassuring for our family to know that a dog will provide him with companionship and security. We think he will bond amazingly with a dog and it will provide him with a “special” relationship.
We would like to see Liam be as independent as he can be and if having a service dog helps him to accomplish that, it is worth more than words can say!
We appreciate all the support we have received from our family, friends, teachers, care providers and even strangers in the past 16 years. Any donation is appreciated to help Liam reach his goal!
Lisa & Keith Gill