Caden Butler Modaff seeks Furry Coping Mechanism
I’m Caden Butler Modaff, and I love trains and tractors. I have a mommy who says I have beautiful blue eyes. I have a daddy who thinks I am super smart and strong, and I have a sister Ryley who thinks I’m funny. I also have autism.
When I was about 15 months old, I started using all of the cool words that I knew but by the time I was 18 months old I could only say two words. I also started lining everything up in the house and stacking whatever I could. I got really upset when anyone would touch my lines or stacks and once I have what mommy calls “a meltdown,” I can’t calm myself back down.
I get frustrated very easily and don’t like when my routine gets changed which is a problem because both my big sister Ryley and I have immune deficiencies that cause us a lot of trips to the doctor and hospital for blood work and surgeries. People outside of my house are really scary and I don’t understand when they want to talk to me or touch me; I try to hide my face whenever I can.
Thank goodness I have a blankie and a pacifier that I can take places with me. If I can’t hide, I sometimes try to run away, which scares my parents because they are worried that I will get hurt or lost. I have been in speech therapy and have a lot more words now but still use a lot of gestures and pictures to communicate with people.
I can only eat food in the form that I first meet it which means I still eat baby food and have trouble eating out unless they serve eggs which I love! I also can’t sleep very well and most nights end up in my mommy and daddy’s room; I have a lot of night terrors and can’t go back to sleep very well on my own.
After lots of tests my doctors decided I have a form of autism called PDD-NOS and some Sensory Integration problems. When I don’t know what to do now I look for my blankie and pacifier or my parents. My parents have to help me a lot which is sometimes hard on my sister because my parents don’t want her to have to grow up too fast or miss out on activities because they are afraid I will get too scared or upset.
My mommy found out about a nonprofit organization, she calls it a 501c3, called 4 Paws for Ability. They are the first organization in the United States to train autism service dogs and what is really cool is that they understand that little kids like me can’t wait until we are older so they will place dogs with people of any age.
We applied and are very grateful that we have been accepted into the program. In order for me to qualify to receive a dog, we need to raise $13,000 for 4 Paws for Ability. After we raise the money, my doggie angel will be chosen for me, and then we’ll get to go to our own training which will be tough but a lot of fun and we just can’t wait.
My dog will be trained just for me. He will be trained primarily in tracking to help my family find me if I get lost or wander off, tethering which is a cool anchor system that will help keep me from bolting in public, and behavior disruption so that I can learn to calm down on my own. Daddy says this isn’t a cure, but it will give me another coping mechanism and that its going to really help our family. Mommy says its going to improve my quality of life and give me and my sister a chance to just be a kids.
We have a website if you’d like more information or just want to see some more pictures, just ask my grandma if my sister and I are cute kids. You can find us at A Dog for Caden. If you would like to make a donation you can donate online at 4 Paws for Ability or you can mail your check or money order to 4 Paws For Ability, Inc., 253 Dayton Avenue, Xenia, Ohio 45385.
Just please make sure that you mark your donation In Honor of Caden Butler Modaff so that I receive credit towards my requirement. All donations are tax deductible; I don’t know what taxes are but I hear daddy talk about them a lot so this must be important!
If you ask me if I want a service dog, I would probably say “”No,” but I say “No” to everything, even if I really mean “Yes.” Trust me, I can’t wait to get my service dog, and maybe it will even help me say “Yes” when mommy asks me if I love her.
Note: I highly endorse 4 Paws for Ability as a source for extremely well-trained service dogs. The organization is sound and its goals exceptional. Judy Vorfeld.