My Nonprofit Reviews

My son, Jack, was diagnosed with high functioning autism at the age of 3. He was minimally verbal and had much difficulty with social interactions and activities. We spent a great deal of time with speech therapy and occupational therapy to help him speak and function better independently. Jack loves animals, so when we heard that there were organizations like North Star that provide autism service dogs, we were sold. We started the application process in early 2007 and received our beautiful Sassy in March of 2008. Patty Dobbs Gross was an amazing resource and great help to us. Sassy is approaching her 4th birthday and year with us and we couldn't imagine life without her. She serves primarly as Jack's companion as he does not have friends his own age like a 9 year old would. She helps him calm down when he has tantrums and she also helps him with his sensory issues by sleeping with him at night. She also has a wonderful relationship with our other 3 children, Vanessa (11), Josie (5) and Colette (3) and is amazingly sweet with them as well. We are eternally thankful for everything Patty and North Star has done for Jack and our family. They are an inspiration to the autism community.

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