Autism service dog brings "life-changing" help to Glenville family

GLENVILLE, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- A family in Glenville believes they have found their miracle after bringing on a "special helper" for their child with autism. Despite their son's tendency to run away, this helper is faster than most, stronger than many, and instead of just two, he has four legs.

Cristie and Jason Boss, the parents of eight-year-old Jeffrey, said their son has many passions including his love for tools.

"Jeffrey is a happy, loving, goofy, kind, little boy," said Cristie. "He loves to do what his daddy does, so he loves cooking and grilling, he loves tools."

Jeffrey also has autism among a few other genetic syndromes, that have made normal activities more difficult for their family over the years.

"Just going for a walk, something as easy as that is something we couldn’t do before," said Cristie.   

Jason and Cristie said the most difficult part about their days was often getting ready in the morning before school, when Jeffrey would try to run away from the school bus stop.

“I wasn’t able to take him to the bus stop for a long time because he couldn’t wait and couldn’t stay. He would run to the neighbor’s houses," said Cristie.

“Its winter time now, the neighbors' yards have no footprints in them. But before, the neighbors' yards would be full of footprints, me and Jeffrey’s footprints, just all over all the neighbors' yards, he ranges pretty wide," said Jason.

In addition to that, Jeffrey's parents said he hated waking up in the morning. They said he would scream and not want to get out of bed. However, all of that changed four months ago when Jeffrey got a special helper named Jasper -- a three-year-old BluePath Service dog. Jasper is specially trained to help children with autism just like Jeffrey and his family.

“Jasper was perfect. He attached himself right to Cristie perfectly, walked Cristie’s speed, was the right temperament for us. And Jeffrey just loved him," said Jason.

BluePath Services is a non-profit organization based in Dutchess County that serves families with autism throughout the Capital Region and even parts of New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

“BluePath specifically assists children who do have that elopement or wandering behavior. Our dogs are service dogs because they do mitigate that disability of travelling safely while they’re out in public,” said Erica Stanzione, director of marketing and development at BluePath Services.

Stanzione said BluePath has matched 55 service dogs with families with autism -- all at no cost to the families. For Jason and Cristie, they said the past few months have been life-changing.

“He [Jeffrey] was almost completely nonverbal before Jasper, but I mean you heard how much he tried to talk today," said Jason. “We wouldn’t hear that many words in a whole week before Jasper."

“He has more confidence, he is trying to talk so much more and its helping him so much," said Jason.  "And he's calmer. He’s still Jeffrey, he still moves all the time, he’s very active but he is a calmer version of it," said Cristie.

Jasper can do tricks like rolling over, sitting, and more. But his best trick is at the school bus stop, where he wears a special vest with a handle on it for Jeffrey. Jeffrey can hold this handle and move wherever Jasper moves.

“As soon as he had a dog there, he wanted to be on the dog handle the whole time. He would not let go of it for the life of him," said Jason.

Now, Jasper and Jeffrey walk all the way to the bus stop together until it's time for Jeffrey to let go and head on up to the bus. But not to worry, Jeffrey's parents said when the two boys reunite later in the day, it's like they never left.

“You can tell in his face, he lights up when he sees Jasper,” said Cristie.

According to Stanzione, autism affects one in 36 children and about half of them are prone to elopement or wandering behaviors. With their service dog by Jeffrey's side, the Boss family no longer has that problem.

“Autism service dogs do provide safety and companionship, they provide opportunities for independence, for families who do have a child on the spectrum," said Stanzione. "They support that child and they also support the whole family."

“It gave me hope. It made me excited at the possibility of what that could do for our family," said Cristie.

For more information on how to see if you're eligible to receive a service dog, visit the BluePath Services website. Families interested will have to fill out an application, and if approved will go through a trial period to see which type of dog is the best fit for them.