4 Paws for Amelia
Hi! We are the Kilby Family, and we would love to introduce the sweet little monkey we call our daughter, Amelia. Amelia, or Amy for short, is the sweetest two-year-old that we know! She is full of smiles when she’s in the right mood, loves the tickle monster, and adores anything made of yarn. Amy has also been diagnosed with autism, global development delay, pervasive sensory disorder, and speech delay.
For anyone not familiar with what autism, or ASD, is, it is a sensory processing disorder that presents a lot of challenges with social skills, repetitive behavior, speech and non-verbal communication. Autism comes in a wide variety of variations and levels, with 1 being the most “high functioning” and 3 being the most “low functioning”. Amy is considered a level 3 on the autism spectrum. Amelia’s language delay means that she is completely non-verbal; she doesn’t use sign language nor does she grunt or point to get what she wants or needs.
Recently, we submitted an application to 4 Paws For Ability after recommendations from Amelia’s occupational therapist, physical therapist, and her current team of doctors. 4 Paws specializes in training service dogs for children and adults with disabilities, including autism. Each dog is trained specifically to fit the needs of the child that they are matched with! What this means is that Amy’s dog will be trained to tether with her, preventing wandering; tracking just in case she does wander away, balance support, and alerting to her changes in mood.
As you can probably imagine, this kind of dedicated training isn’t cheap. 4 Paws funds most of the $40,000-$60,000 with the family only responsible for $17,000. Insurance refuses to cover anything relating to the cost, so we’re collecting donations for this amazing tool to help Amy, and any little bit helps!
As you can probably imagine, this kind of dedicated training isn’t cheap. 4 Paws funds most of the $40,000-$60,000 with the family only responsible for $17,000. Insurance refuses to cover anything relating to the cost, so we’re collecting donations for this amazing tool to help Amy, and any little bit helps!
If you can help Amelia, please visit the 4 Paws Donation Page (http://www.4PawsForAbility.org/donate-now). Please include Amelia’s full name on the donation as instruction in the “Description” field of the form on the second page of the Authorize.net donation. Donations can also be made by mailing a check with Amelia’s full name on the memo line to:
4 Paws For Ability
In Honor of Amelia Kilby
253 Dayton Ave.
Xenia, OH 45385
4 Paws For Ability
In Honor of Amelia Kilby
253 Dayton Ave.
Xenia, OH 45385
Thank you and have a wonderful day!
Sarah J. Kilby
(859) 446-9805
Sarah.williams09@yahoo.com
