By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
PETRA Chard’s seven-year-old son, Jadon, has autism and needs an Autism Assistance Dog to assist him day to day. The trouble is, they’re $25,000 and Petra doesn’t have that sort of money lying around.
After a moment of epiphany and encouragement from her girlfriends, Petra decided that she was going to find the money somehow.
So last Sunday, she held a high tea fund-raiser at her home in Upper Pakenham, which more than 100 people attended.
Many of whom she didn’t know but had still come to support the cause.
“It just spiralled. We’ve raised over $5000 dollars,” she said. “We had a silent auction, a raffle, handmade jewellery and cards for sale, girl’s stuff for mother’s day.”
“We just canvassed local businesses for goods to auction and we had a big response.
“Our aim was to raise awareness and people would help out, but we ended up making a substantial amount of money and the pledges have continued.”
Jadon not only has autism but also an intellectual disability and specifically needs an assistance dog as opposed to a therapy dog, which is roughly $20,000 cheaper.
“Autism Assistance Dogs come with public access rights, identical to a guide dog they have the right to enter any public area,” Petra said.
“You can’t decline their entry to the supermarket or to the cinemas or anything like that. They’re like a walking cane to a blind person – they support the kids to go into places.”
Jadon needs this extensive support due to the severity of his illness. His speech is limited, he doesn’t sleep much at night, he wanders without any sense of danger or road safety and this is all becoming more than Petra can contain on her own.
The dog would be attached to Jadon and is trained to prevent him from wandering away and to comfort him when stressed.
“One of the big things for these kids is sleeping. A lot of them don’t need a lot of sleep; a lot of them get very stressed with going to sleep in the night,” she said.
“So in Jadon’s case, the dog would sleep with him and would be there at night for him so I don’t have to be there.
“To have a dog as a companion and best friend will just be wonderful for him, because we all get so much out of friendships.”
The fund-raiser was a giant step forward in a journey that has been riddled with setbacks. Jadon has been to five different schools and although he is settled now, it can change at the drop of a hat.
Petra said she is running out of options for her son in an area that is significantly lacking for support schools.
While a few do exist and a new facility is being built in Officer, it does not cater for children with autism with IQs above 70. For them, the closest school is East Bentleigh.
“Children with autism don’t manage in an everyday classroom, you’ll have them in Pakenham Consolidated banging their heads and screaming,” Petra said.
“But they can’t go to other support schools because their IQs are often 70, 71 or 72 so the closest school is East Bentleigh. That would be greater than four hours in the car every day.”
Faced with these dilemmas, the need for Jadon to have an autism assistance dog continues to grow. Due to the goodwill of the community and with a fundraising trivia and comedy night on the horizon, Petra hopes her son will have his companion before the year’s out.
“He’s got his brother and sister here but the disparity between their abilities is just going to grow,” Petra said.
“In years to come, the dog will be his mate about the place.”
For more information on Jadon’s cause, visit www.facebook.com/JadonsDog or www.gosforkidswithdisabilities.com.
