Does anyone here have familiarity with the process of getting a psychiatric service dog for an autistic child?
Our son has a really bad panic/flight thing going on, like bad enough that he’ll be wandering in his mind, then all of a sudden realize he’s not at home or school, and panic/freak out, and then bolt for the exit door and out into parking lots/roads with traffic, full speed, not stopping for anyone unless it’s me, my wife, or his siblings.
Recently he, my three year old, and myself were at Chili’s on a Saturday night eating dinner (he loves their blue lagoon drink), and I had to take the 3 year old to the bathroom to change his diaper. I told him where we were going, making sure he was paying attention and actually heard me. The bathroom was literally 15 feet away, he had even already gone and used it by himself while me and the 3 year old waited at the table. Anyway, I had just finished changing the 3 year old’s diaper and was about to walk out of the bathroom when one of the waiters opened the door and said “your kid is freaking out cause he thinks you left him.”
I walk out of the bathroom and start looking around and he’s at the entrance, out one set of doors and would have already been out the other into the parking lot with cars driving around were it not for a mom that was their with her family of four kids who did her best to hold him. Needless to say I ran to the door and grabbed him and picked him up but he was shaken to his core. He legitimately thought we had left him at Chili’s by himself.
So yeah, he definitely qualifies, but it’d be great to speak with someone who has gone through the process themselves so I get a better idea of what to expect.
Thank you in advance for reading my really long toot, and any help you can give.
@mikecherry Look into Canine Companions for Independence https://canine.org/service-dogs/our-dogs/who-we-serve/, as they work with folks nationwide. (My daughter raised a puppy for them when she was in college. The puppy then attended advance training and graduated from CCI’s campus in Irving, TX.)
I have friends who work with these folks. I'm not sure where you are located, but they say they will work with folks out of town on a case by case basis. In any case they have some good info.
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