Owen is a smart little four year old boy, who loves life. He has two siblings, an older sister and a younger brother. He hit all his milestones until 18 months old. That was when we started noticing speech delay and sleep disturbance. His parents became concerned when his vocabulary quit advancing. At this point his parents sought help from his pediatrician and Help Me Grow. At two years of age Owen began attending Occupational and Speech therapy.

Owen has come a long way; from a vocabulary of ten words at the age of two, to over two hundred words at the age of four. Owen’s ability to communicate is still extremely limited. He can identify things(objects, colors, number, etc.) and is able to answer simple yes or no questions. He has made improvements in his sleep health with a set bedtime routine, but still struggles with significant sleep disturbances.

A safety concern for Owen would be his risk for elopement. Owen is now becoming too big for the child seat in the carts at the stores so he has started walking in the stores. Owen does good at staying with his mom and dad most of the time but sometimes he will run off without giving warning when he is in public. Sometimes he responds but other time he acts as if he cannot hear you yelling at him.

We are hoping the service dog will provide comfort to Owen when he sleeps at night as well as safety for Owen when he is out in public. The hope is that Owen will be able to gain independence and self confidence with a service dog. Thank you for giving your time to learn about Owen, any donations will go toward the cost of his service dog and are greatly appreciated.

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 Owen