Bailey and His Boy

The mother of Bailey's boy wrote the following before their family received Bailey:

It’s hard for special needs parents to admit but we need help. We need help to walk out in our yard, go to the store or park and not worry that our little boy will bolt and run into the street. We need him to stay in his bed and sleep during the night. We need for him to stay calm and not harm himself or others nearby when he is upset. We really need to keep Henry safe because he has no concept of danger. A specially trained Service Dog can help us manage these behavioral, emotional, and physical disabilities. Henry is a beautiful and sweet six-year-old boy. He has many physical and developmental struggles – Autism, Ocular Albinism (low vision), Global Developmental Delays, Speech Delays, Hypotonic Muscles, Sleep Deregulation, and Epilepsy. He has worked very hard with developmental teachers, behavioral teachers, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech therapists since he was an infant. In 2010, Henry began losing all the academic and behavioral skills he had worked so hard to achieve. He had increased starring spells and many extreme episodes of anger and frustration. On the morning of Palm Sunday in 2011, Henry has his first grand mal seizure. It was very disturbing heartbreaking to watch him experience. He has been working very hard on his self-regulation skills at his day treatment program and Fraser. He currently has several episodes of absence seizures every day.

Before receiving Bailey, his boy would get to about half of his seven monthly doctor's appointments because he would have so many melt-downs in the waiting room. Today, Bailey's boy makes it to every doctor's appointment because when he starts to get upset, Bailey is there to calm him.