Service Dogs Help Professor and Student

A mother dog with her puppies that will be trained to be service dogs for families like this one. Photo courtesy of 4 Paws for Ability

A yellow Lab named Sylvia has completely changed Nathan Selove’s a high school sophomores life. He used to have regular meltdowns from minor to so severe he would scream and yell and thrash around in public. His father Ramon Selove an associate professor of biology had those same behaviors and would in trying to control his behavior literally run from a situation he found he couldn’t handle. A Chocolate Lab changed his life. Both father and son have Asperger’s syndrome – a high-functioning autistic disorder in 1 percent of the population that is characterized by repetitive patterns of behavior and difficulties in social interaction.

Back at his house, Nathan shows off his “Aspe Superpower,” a term he and his dad coined to refer to a rare intellectual ability that often comes along with the disorder. Ramon can read most anything – from physics to cooking instructions – and understand it immediately. Nathan has come out of his shell and is now able to connect with people in fact he participates in local theater products now. His mom says before the dogs came into their lives Nathan used to have night terrors, was bullied by classmates and was severely hyperactive. when Nathan feels a meltdown coming on now, his dog Sylvia can sense it and will climb into his lap to soothe and calm him Ramon on the other hand feels the help of Coriander after his classes are over and students run up to him with questions, the dog will move in between him and the students to calm his anxiety.

To read about everything these two dogs have done for this family visit http://www.necn.com/05/30/11/Service-dogs-help-son-dad-deal-with-Aspe/landing_health.html?&blockID=3&apID=7eb9d922005a407a9212516512403f27