Hello,

I have to share this with you, I'm smiling so much I think I will burst :D :D

Tonight my nephew came down with his mom my sister, my nephew is 10 in January but he is Autistic and has learning disabitlites. Jack does not speak just the odd word occasionally "ta" "bye" "nan" "pse-which we think is please"

Tonight though he came down and went out into the shed/Jack's playhouse I set up for him to play with his sand in the dry he loves sand. He was in the shed with the double door open and we were sitting in the conservatory watching him Sal was lying in the garden watching him. Jack came out of the shed and lay on the floor beside Sal. Then he got up went back into the shed and turned around and said quite clearly"Sal here" in fact he said it so clearly my sister dropped her cup of tea and burst into tears.

Sal just got up and went into the shed, Jack patted her on the head and carried on playing with the sand Sal went lay just under the bench with her head on his foot.

Just had to share this with you. Life is sweet.

Karen a proud auntie :D :D :D :D

Always knew Staffys were special Karen
:D :D
Way to go Jack ;)

aaawww :) ;)

That's lovely Karen!

There was an interesting article in this month's Your Dog about an autistic child who'd experienced difficulties in relation to forming relationships with other people, and whose consultant had said she shouldn't be allowed a pet. Anyway, she defied all expectations and formed this amazing friendship with the family dog. :)

I helped home a lovely 5 year old dally bitch with a family who had an autistic child... she's been brilliant with him.

Dogs seem to have an affinity with those people 'caught between two worlds'. And thank God they do.
:)

Jeangenie thats a lovely way to put it "caught between two worlds"

Oddly enough Jack is the only one of the children who Oscar my Tom cat (neutured of course ;) ) will let stroke him.
Oz normally moves upstairs when the kids come but if just Jack's here Oz comes down and can be found flat out along side him watching one of Jacks videos. Odd eh :)
In fact(Oscar was burned with cigarettes and had his whiskers pulled out before I got him) one day Oz was flat out next to Jack and Jack was asleep on the floor in the living room Jack's dad my brother in law went to pick Jack up and Oz reached out his claws and put them in Stu's arm (enough to mark lightly)
and growled at stu.
Stu realised and called me I had to move Oscar out of the room before he could pick Jack up.

Karen

A consultant that I work with has a severely autistic child and he was advised in Malta that the best thing to do would be to buy a dog, so he did. Not only has she helped but the dog is now a wonderful family member. She's also a lab.

Oooooh JG, i like that 'caught between two worlds' thats lovely!

A friend of mine helped out this summer, as part of her college course, at a place called Hurdles, near me. Hurdles provides day care for physically and mentally handicapped children, I used to help out there sometimes as well, and fundraise for them, when my mate Roger was still with us (he had muscular dystrophy, and made it to 18 and a half, despite the dr's saying he wouldnt see 13!).

Anyway, i bumped into her in the park, she was helping with a group of kids, and i had Dilly and Rocky with me. I did kind of panic a bit, as she came over with two little boys with her. Rocky has a tendancy to bark loudly at children, and scare them, Dill just wiggles and bounces.

Anyways, rocky really suprised me, he didnt bark at all, he gently sniffed both boys, and sat and let them stroke him (he isnt really a strokey dog), and Dilly only wiggled a little bit, didnt bounce at all.....hee hee, we sat in the park for ages, letting the kids pet Rocky and Dill, both the dogs and the kids loved it!

I reckon dogs can tell, dont know how or why, but it is lovely that they do!

Em

Fantastic!
Dawn.

what a beautiful phrase *caught between two worlds*. my 4yr old nephew has angelmans disorder. he cant speak and is just learning to walk with a frame. he spends a lot of time with my sister as his mum works. they have a yorkshire terrier harry and they are best friends. he also literally screams with laughter when he visits us and the bulldogs slobber all over him. yet he is very wary of people. he wont allow anyone to cuddle him except his mum.

I'm so pleased that my tipsy rambling phrase seems to have struck a chord with everyone. It seemed appropriate - between Man and the Angels.
:)

Yes it has caught my imagination Jeangenie, I think when you have a person in your family who is "different" in some way to what people consider the norm, your whole thinking changes I know mine and the families has since Jack joined us.

I mentioned the phrase to my two nieces Jack's sisters one 14months older than him and the other his twin
and they liked it too, and wanted me to say;

Thank you, this might make you smile though Jack's twin sister did say that "if he is caught between two worlds she's glad he choose's to live in this one with us, because no one loves her like her brother Jack does."

Karen

Oh that's lovely, Karen! They're lucky having each other!
:)

They are all good kids................mind you look at their Auntie :D :D

Modesty is not my strong point ;)

Karen