People Are Noticing

So by now, everyone who knows us knows that we've really fallen in love with Charlie and the magical effect he's had on Tim.   What I haven't been so sure of is whether or not anyone else could see the magic.  Well, yesterday it was confirmed.  

Tim attends summer school 5 days a week (in our county all special ed students automatically go to summer school to avoid regression.)   Today when I went to pick him up from school, Charlie joined me and we waited patiently on the lawn in front of the school for Tim's aide to escort him out.   When Tim spotted us he lit up and pulled his aide over to us.  As usual, he started bestowing all his love and affection on Charlie while Charlie obligingly sat there and loved him right back.  Seeing this happen, the savvy aides were very quick to jump in and start asking questions to Tim about his dog.  He told them his name and then gave some commands to Charlie (sit down - Charlie was already sitting but who cares - Tim was talking!!!)

Amid this little joyous moment the summertime school principal approached me and admonished me for having a dog on campus.  I apologized and quickly removed Tim and Charlie from the lawn and loaded the crew into the car.  

I'll admit that I stewed a bit on the way home but I understand her position and I really don't want to be one of those annoying dog people who thinks that the rules don't apply to them (although it's easy to forget that with the WONDERDOG.  Eventually Charlie will be certified for full public access but until then he's just an assistance dog in training and is not technically accorded full access.)   By the time I got home, I was over it and just determined to leave Charlie home for future pick ups.

Shortly after arriving home, the phone rang and the caller ID indicated it was the School District calling.  Oh boy, I thought, here we go.  (In my house, calls from the school district are never good news.)  I answered and it was Tim's summer school teacher - a woman I'd only known for less than 2 days.  She explained that she was so excited by Tim's response to Charlie at pick up time, and so disappointed by the principal's position on dogs, that she had taken it upon herself to reach out to another autism teacher in our district to figure out a plan to use Charlie in working toward Tim's language goals.  Together they devised a plan where I  will bring Charlie to edge of school property and she will walk Tim out to us about 10 minutes before school ends so that we can all have a mini language session, facilitated by her, where Tim talks about Charlie.   After I got over the shock of such a positive call from the school, I was thrilled.

Of course, this whole experience says as much about Tim's teacher as it does about Charlie.   She obviously understands Charlie's purpose and wants to take full advantage of the teaching moments that he provides.  I'm just thankful that someone else sees what we've been seeing - the truly magical effect that Charlie is having on Tim.