Puppy love
Dylan, 4, says first word as he meets school’s trainee assistance dog
A LITTLE boy who has been nonverbal throughout his life has said his first word while meeting a puppy being trained as an assistance dog for his school.
Dylan Mccarron is four-and-ahalf and lives with autism, a sensory processing disorder and severe learning difficulties which has left him unable to communicate.
But on January 9, having never spoken a word he repeated the word “dog” to Assistance Dogs trainee, puppy Poga.
And photos of his mum and Ciara, a classroom assistant at Knockavoe School, and his teacher, Ciara Mclaughlin, show their shock and delight as they witnessed the moment.
Mum Ciara said: “I’m still reeling from it. In our home, in our lives this is an absolute miracle, a real-life, actually-happened, I-witnessed-it miracle.”
Dylan was with Ciara in a Belfast church hall when their lives changed.
By her side were friends from Knockavoe Special School in Strabane, classroom assistant Anne Marie Mcshane and teacher Ciara.
Mum Ciara said: “We were lucky enough as a school to be allocated an 11-week-old puppy who will become part of our school staff and work during the day as an assistance dog with the children while living with Ciara Mclaughlin and her family out of school.
“We’ve been so excited about getting the puppy and we were allowed to choose a name for him and we all decided on Poga, which means peace bringer, because we hope he will help create peace in and for our pupils by just being by their side.
ROUTINE
“Dylan and I joined Anne Marie and Ciara on the bus from our school in Strabane to Belfast to meet the puppy for the first time and to meet the team from Assistance Dogs NI charity who will be training Ciara to look after Poga.
“Dylan was just doing his usual routine and was in a wee world of his own and we got him up for photos and video for Belfastlive.
“So I had Anne Marie on one side, Dylan propped on my hip, Ciara and Poga on the other side and we were just chatting about how happy we were to get the dog.
“Then Dylan just said the word ‘dog’ and then repeated it. Then Ciara realised what was going on. I was laughing and trying to get him to say it again. Anne Marie was stunned.
“Thankfully it was all caught on video and we can clearly hear him speaking. Dylan’s first word was dog and his second word was doggie followed by a big giggle.
“For some families this might seem like nothing extraordinary but for us it changes everything.
“It opens up a world of possibilities. It means that we can tell that Dylan does actually understand what’s going on around him, he can communicate, he can speak and he can connect what’s in the world around him with what he wants to say. For four years we have waited patiently and worked hard trying to encourage him to speak with us, to communicate.
“But Dylan has been in his own world and he was making sounds with his mouth, stimming with his mouth but never managed to create any verbal language. For parents who
understand this, they will realise just how incredible it is that Dylan could even use his muscles in his mouth properly to say the words because he has not used them before.
“Being a parent of a child with severe difficulties can be such an isolating place and as a family we measure progress very differently to others.
“I had it in my mind that if Dylan hadn’t managed to say anything by the end of this year, then maybe all hope of him talking was gone. It’s been very hard to live in hope hour by hour and to end every day without a wee word, a wee bit of progress. Dylan was born with congenital heart disease and had several holes in his heart operated on at Crumlin Children’s Hospital when he was a tiny baby.
“He recovered very well but his development was different and last September he was officially diagnosed with autism.
“Simple everyday things taken for granted like going to the barbers, going into a shop or even the dentist cause huge stress and anxiety for Dylan and our family. It can be a very isolating world for us.”
Ciara Mclaughlin, a teacher at Knockavoe, has taken Poga into her home to live with her family and she and Anne Marie Mcshane will share the responsibility for him throughout his life with support from the assistance
Simple, everyday tasks cause huge anxiety for Dylan
MUM CIARA ON HER SON’S STRUGGLES
dogs charity.