IBN Member Fabiola Tercero's Page

My biggest trouble in providing him with a service dog, is finding somebody to help me train one. I have about 2-3 litters of puppies every year and so we usually produce a couple who probably have the right personality for the job, I've even considered donating the occasional pup to someone else for that purpose. It's finding someone knowledgeable in the training of an Autism Service Dog that is the difficult part. If you live close to a big city, you can find classes for the basic and advance obedience part of it, maybe even for the tracking/search & rescue training. It's the part of finding someone to help with training the dog to do deep pressure therapy, emergency evacuation training (in case of fire, tornado or earthquakes)... finding a trainer to help you with that. AND then of course paying for those services as well. That's the hard part.

I am hoping that maybe the organization that puts on a camp every year in South Dakota for the families of autistic kids will perhaps be able to get a trainer to come as part of our seminars this year or next.

I am glad all is going well with your son getting into school so far. I'd say the non-specifics are about 50% they don't know him yet and the other 50% because it's preschool, which is obviously mostly social. My youngest (non-autistic) son is 4 years old and in preschool and they work mostly on play skills with peers, following directions, routines, remembering to wash up after going to the bathroom and before lunch (boys seem to have more trouble with that than girls I think anyway) etc. What they get acedemically is very basic. begining letters/numbers, days of the week, recognising holidays/months of year, understanding basics about hte weather and learning a little bit of pysical ed/music/library stuff. Even my older boy, who is autisitc and on an IEP, still a lot of it was non-specific especially last year for his first year of K when he was still working mostly on social skills. This year there was a big jump in the acedemics called for in his IEP and with us advocationg his needs I was able to not only get him regular Friday tutoring (our school went to a 4 day week this year, which I am not happy about... I feel like they really took a day per week away from him socially and acedemically... it's not something that's going to matter for your average 6th grader or high school kid, but it's a huge deal for an autistic youngster) I also go them to include the mileage for us to drive him to that tutoring as we live over 30 miles from the school.

The service dog. Well, I have several prospects right now since I raise dogs. I am not certain that the one we choose out of my mama dogs' first litter is going to be suitable temperment-wise now that she's almost a year old and still seems a bit too hyperactive and hard-headed, Sasha may be a bit to dominant for the job. However there are 2 of her half-sisters in the litter we had last Sept. that might be possiblities.

...AND I love yours as well! Tercero is so much swankier than primero (so vulgar), or segundo (ho hum). :) Fabianas y Fabiolas, nos tenemos el tiempo, si?

HI Fabiola,
Yes, my oldest boy, Charlie, is autistic. He is now 6 years old and in his second year of kindergarten. Has more teachers than most kids do in high school... already. Sp. Ed, Speech therapist, OT, his regular K teacher, a para-educator, and of course the usual P.E., Music, Art, Library and Media teachers.
If you've not already gotten your child diagnosed, I would work with whatever program in your state that provides Sp. Ed therapy for the birth to 3 year old group toward the end of getting the testing for diagnosis done before your child is school age (wish we had done that!) It will take much longer to work through the "official channels" once the school district is involved, because you will probably spend all of pre-school and most of kindergarten convincing the school district the testing is necessary.

By federal law, the school districts are required to pay for this type of testing in school age students, IF it is needed. They will of course go to great lengths to prove that the testing is NOT needed because it is quite expensive and they don't want to be held on account of that obligation.

We had to bring in a Peer Navigator (the term that our state gives to it's appointed advocates who mediate between schools and the students/parents) and also ended up finally having to bring our priest and the grandparents to an I.E.P. Meeting as well to "even the odds". Schools love to try to intimidate the parents, especially if the parents are not very pro-active about their child's needs. I have often sat in an I.E.P. meeting with just myself and maybe my husband on our side of the table and anywhere from 7-10 people on the school's side. They brought in the principal, the super-intendant of schools, all of his Sp. Ed. teachers, a psychologist,... everybody... right down to the librarian.

If you've already gotten your little one's official DX...Congrats! You are well ahead of the game! Seek out online and locally other parents with special needs kids that can be a support system and educate family and friends about your unique child and his disability. That age old wisdom that "it takes a village to raise a child" is especially true for youngsters with special needs.
Get to know the people involved in all sorts of organizations who work with these kids on a personal level. Your child is just a toddler now, but the years fly by and before you know it they are old enough to participate in things like Special Olympics, 4-H (projects don't just have to be farm animals, many do dog obedience, have a cat or a bunny rabbit, sew etc.), music lessons for special needs children etc. If you can't find a local support group, consider starting on at a local place of worship, library or other community building.

Of course, mom's like me online can also be a source of encouragement and helpful ideas too and there are many books now on the subject of ASD (if you can just find the time to read them while you juggle everything else.) Right now I am trying to find information on training a service dog for Charlie.

As I also breed Miniature Australian Shepherds, I actually already have the dog(s) I want to use and the basic obedience skills to do that part of the training. I need guidance on training Sasha or Cowboy in the more specialized skills (tracking, search/rescue, deep pressure therapy, evacuation in the event of fire or tornado) and still have a dog that is suitable and functional on the farm as a gentle herding dog to work with goats and sheep.

I don't know if you are familiar with picture schedules yet, since your little one is so young. My husband came up with a great idea for this ( I was having so much trouble with formatting one for us, I could never make one big enough on a piece of paper that would hold more than 3-4 activities... and if you are potty-training you can go through 3-4 things in about 5 or 10 minutes... I was spending all day everyday rearranging picture schedules, it just about drove me nuts!)... print out your P.E.C.S. on those magnet sheets from Avery. Then you can use your fridge (side or front) for your picture schedule.

My pleasure!! How are you today? Cute baby you got there!!