Meet Ayla, a super imaginative, creative, happy, silly 5-year-old. She loves to introduce herself and family members to everyone she meets. She’s fascinated with all things outer space and consistently wants to be an astronaut when she grows up. She also loves airplanes and helicopters and wants so badly to fly like her favorite superheroes. She is usually constantly talking to someone and when there is no one to talk to it’s fun to hear her imaginative play at work. She scripts out loud everything going on in her mind and it’s fascinating to listen to the stories she creates with both the kids she knows in real life and her imaginary cartoon friends. Her favorite imaginary friend is a green cartoon car named Chrissy Carson who often tags along with our family to different events and activities.

Ayla’s adoption was arranged prior to birth. She was expected to be very healthy and typical. It wasn’t long before big concerns started to emerge. She was missing ALL her milestones. I (her mother) fostered 6 newborns previously and was very aware something big was off in her development. She didn’t roll over until 8 months old and didn’t walk until 2 ½ years old. Vision and hearing are typically the first that is tested when children are missing milestones. It was discovered that Ayla had a congenital malformation in her right inner ear. At 1, she was diagnosed with right-sided sensorineural hearing loss and wears a hearing aid in that ear. That explained some developmental issues, but not all. At 1 ½ years old, she was diagnosed through genetics with 15q13.2q13.3 microdeletion syndrome; a very rare condition affecting an estimated 1 in 40,000-50,000 births. Under the umbrella of that diagnosis, she’s additionally diagnosed with autism, hypertonia, ADHD and speech and motor delays. 15q13.2q13.3 is not a well understood syndrome. Traits vary widely and broadly. Some people affected may not ever be able to walk or talk and some people have no noticeable symptoms. Ayla falls somewhere in the middle. None of our doctors has had a case, so it’s new to them too. She additionally has the hearing impairment, so it makes treating and identifying what’s-causing-what even that more challenging.

What brings us to W.A.G.S. 4 Kids and a service dog are the sensory issues Ayla experiences through her autism diagnosis. She really struggles with busy and crowded spaces, particularly indoors; the noise and motion of people in her peripheral vision is what is understood to be the issue at this point. School, auditoriums, stores, big gatherings and social events are really tough places for her to be. Her current coping mechanisms are requesting to be in a stroller when walking through crowds of people, using her iPad to drown out the visual stimulation around her, asking me (her mother) for deep pressure hugs or pats. She needs a lot of touch input when she’s in an overstimulated state and can “check out” by falling asleep. The hope with a service dog is to build Ayla’s independence and give her transferable coping mechanisms. Instead of needing to be in a stroller (that she will soon be too big for) to give her extra space in crowds of people, her service dog can do that. Instead of getting deep pressure hugs and pats from me (I’m not always with her) when needed, her service dog will be trained to offer that. Instead of touching other people or things when it’s inappropriate because she’s overstimulated, Ayla can pet her service dog to regulate herself. An additional offering that a service dog can help Ayla with is mobility. Ayla has low tone throughout her body. She’s still mastering stairs. They make her very nervous, and she often requests to hold my hand for support. Her service dog can offer that mobility support instead of another person always having to be with her to navigate steps or curbs.

Thank you in advance for your support. Ayla is a super cool and unique human being. I know a service dog will become a beneficial partner and best friend as Ayla keeps working towards independence, growth and overcoming her challenges.

You can also mail a check or money order to:

W.A.G.S. 4 Kids, 112 East Center Street, Berea, OH 44017

Please make a memo that your donation is for Ayla