Guest Author - Sharon Schmidt

This topic is one dear to my heart. I am an animal lover of course, and the mom to four sons with disabilities. Two of my sons have problems with aggression.

During my research to help my children, I came across a lot of information on animal assisted therapy. I heard stories of the difference animals made and began to question, could there be something to this? I was raised in an animal loving home. I wanted to bring animals into our home but was reluctant to do so due to my son's aggression. I did not feel it fair to bring an animal into those circumstances.

Our son was out of control and we didn’t know what to do to help him. I knew somewhere inside there was a very intelligent kid. We needed to find something that would help bring out his abilities instead of his disabilities. We had to call our local Police department for assistance on a daily basis.

All my family had animals of some sort, mostly dogs and cats. I began to notice when we visited family, and one of my children had a meltdown, they would never harm one of the animals. This gave me a tiny bit of hope and it began our journey.

One day we found some cats and kittens in our back yard and took them in. My kids adored them and we planned to find homes for them but they ended up staying with us. Next came our sugar gliders. My children fell in love with them. I noticed my son talking to them and playing with them. I even saw excitement in his eyes for the first time. This was a child that did not seem to care about anything, very unhappy and unstable, but deep down I saw a glint of caring.

One day, we came across a Petland in Fairfield Ohio. This began a great friendship, and the beginning of major changes for our family. We purchased some pets there. We took them home and I saw my son’s eyes light up. Petland soon became our favorite place. My son Robbie went with us and soon became friends with everyone at Petland. The co owners, father and son John and Nick, were fantastic. I never knew there could be such compassionate, understanding, wonderful human beings. It gave me true hope for this world. The employees were so knowledgeable about the animals and you could truly tell this was more than a job for them; it was a love for animals and people. It was like they took our family in and adopted my son. My son goes there and hangs out with everyone and they make him feel like royalty. They gave him a Petland shirt, an application for when he is old enough, and are even having him a birthday party at Petland. We soon became the “Dr. Do Little Family”.

When I noticed the love and change in my children’s behavior and their happiness and zest for life, a lot of people would say I got carried away. We brought a lot of animals into our home and our lives. All animals came from Petland, which I highly recommend.

My kids began taking responsibility. They cleaned out cages, fed and watered the animals and played with them. My son who wanted nothing to do with anyone suddenly became social and actually had a smile. The aggression decreased. The Police reports went from stacks a week to no calls at all. Our house soon became the Animal House in the neighborhood.

A lot of people might ask us how we can have so many pets. However, if those people who question our madness could see what a difference these pets have made in the lives of my children physically and emotionally and in the ability of us to enjoy each other and be a family, they would ask us how could we not have so many?

While there needs to be more research into proving the effects animals have with kids with disabilities, I know from firsthand experience, they do make a difference. My kids may never be perfect, but because of the precious animals brought into our lives, my family is able to function again, there is happiness and love in the air and my kids are better people because of it.

Animals do make a difference. This is something personal I chose to share and if it helps bring happiness to one child with a disability and hope to one family, then, our family and pets have truly made a difference in more ways than one.