Five-year-old son with autism meets his new dog for the first time

The mother of a 5-year-old boy, Shanna Niehaus, posted this photo online. The caption for this photo touched hundreds of thousands of people around the world to the core.

“See this? I've never experienced anything like this. Yesterday my five-year-old autistic son met his new dog for the first time, who was specially trained to help autistic children. Tornado. We moved to Japan from the USA and waited almost two years to meet Tornado.

This photograph shows you the face of a mother who herself could not hug, dress, wash her son, sleep or fool around with him, when she saw him calmly lying on his dog - of his own free will, because he himself felt a connection with her. This is the face of a mother who has seen thousands of times how her son could not establish contact with anyone, even though he tried to make friends. At least one friend. At least one close person. She spent hours sitting next to her son when he cried at night: after all, he has absolutely no one outside the family, no matter how hard he tries. No matter how hard he tried to follow all the instructions, they could not change his world. And now she sits next to her son, looking at him, and cannot breathe, and cannot say a word.

It was worth it. Everything: the struggle for special services, diagnoses, money, piles of completed papers, school meetings, tears, every step forward and every step back, all our doubts about the future. For some reason, now - because of the Tornado - I know for sure that everything will be fine. Countless times I have seen my son struggle to overcome difficulties and cope with pain; I cried countless times because of this. But yesterday I cried for a different reason. I can't describe this feeling."

It's hard to imagine how a mother feels when she can't even hug her own son without risking a panic attack. Autistic children find it very difficult to connect with people around them. Therefore, dogs are specially trained to help such children - they calm the child during panic attacks, monitor him and warn parents when help is needed. Because dogs feel and behave differently, they are easier for children to communicate with.

Autism is not a disease, but a developmental feature. Therefore, autism cannot be cured with pills. However, dogs can do it! Their caring, devotion, playfulness and warmth help children connect with the world around them.