When you look at Justin Kinninger he has every appearance of being a typical five year old boy. In many ways Justin is a typical five year old. He loves to run around outside and play, he is a social bug who acts as though he has never met a stranger, he plays soccer and he hopes to sign up for baseball this spring.

What you don’t know when you see Justin’s contagious smile is that he was diagnosed with Sensory Integration Dysfunction when he was 3 years old. At his 4 year check-up he was further diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder- not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), an atypical form of autism.

What does this mean? Sensory Integration Dysfunction is a neurological disorder causing some people to have difficulties in integrating information coming in from each of their five senses. Autism is a neurological disorder, which affects all developmental planes, including communication skills, social/emotional skills, cognitive skills, self-help skills and motor skills to varying degrees, and PDD-NOS is a 'sub-threshold condition in which some - but not all - features of autism or another explicitly identified Pervasive Developmental Disorder are identified.

For Justin this means a severe speech delay among other problems. By the time Justin was 3 his verbal abilities were only at the level of an 18 month old. Other symptoms include Justin’s clumsiness or lack of coordination, he is easily distracted, he has a fierce need for routine, he has an inability to process danger or to calm himself and he has a need for constant pressure on his body.

While many of his symptoms sound like traits of any young child, what makes Justin different is the magnitude of his needs. When those needs are not met, Justin has a meltdown that he is unable to control. His mother, Shannon, and father, Jim, have learned techniques over the years to help calm Justin’s fits, but they can last between 30 minutes to an hour before Justin is able to stop crying. “These meltdowns can occur when Justin is having sensory overload or when he is tired or sick, there are too many people around him, or for no reason at all,” says Shannon. “As you can imagine, we don’t go out in public a lot. It’s hard to handle an autistic child as well as a typical toddler, Justin’s little sister, Madison.”

“I worry about Justin on a daily basis. He does not understand the concept of danger. He will walk out in front of moving cars in a parking lot or a road. He likes everyone and cannot understand what ‘stranger danger’ is. He also wanders off from adults he is with, without telling them where he is going,” explains Shannon.

Justin was nearly run over by a school-bus a few months ago because he was afraid he was going to miss it. Without warning he ran after the moving bus. Recently, Justin walked out into traffic because he thought that if he hit the crosswalk button it meant he could walk right away.

These are just a few instances of what Jim and Shannon Kinninger go through on a daily basis with their energetic son.

Justin attends occupational therapy three times a week and speech therapy once a week. One day while at therapy, Shannon saw an autistic teenager who was attending therapy because of a recent meltdown. “Up until that point I was still in denial,” Shannon admits. “It scared me, so I got online to do some research.” What Shannon found was 4 Paws for Ability, a 501 c3 non-profit agency that specializes in training service dogs for children with disabilities.

4 Paws for Ability was the first agency to train and place Autism Assistance Dogs and it continues to be the largest organization in the U.S. to place Autism Assistance service dogs with tracking abilities.

“An assistance dog will help keep Justin out of danger and help find him when he wanders off,” explains Shannon. “The dog will also help Justin to calm himself when he has a meltdown. It will greatly ease my mind to know I don’t have to be afraid for Justin’s safety every second of the day.”

Shannon sent in the required paperwork last October and Justin was approved into the program in November. “There were other programs out there that would offer Justin a free assistance dog, but there is a three to five year waiting period for those dogs.” 4 Paws is not a free service, the Kinningers will have to cover the full cost of training the dog, which will be about $12,000, but most dogs are in the disabled person’s home within a year.

“With an assistance dog, Justin will be enabled to gain some sort of independence for the future. The Autism Assistance Dog will be a constant, trusted companion, to help him refocus, and to calm him before he has a meltdown, and to keep him out of danger,” says Shannon.

Shannon Kinninger works for Pediatric Services of America at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. She is currently an LPN, but is going to school to be an RN. Jim Kinninger works for Delta. They’re daughter Madison is an adorable two year old who has learned to patiently sit in offices and hospitals due to Justin’s frequent trips to see doctors and therapists.

Justin attends Sara Harp Minter Elementary school where he is in kindergarten 5 days per week. The Kinningers hope to see a day when Justin will be able to function like any kid his age, and are confident that an assistance dog from 4 Paws is the first and best step they can take in that direction.

“I used to be president of the MOMs club of Fayetteville. I had no problem raising funds for various causes on a regular basis, I was good at it, but it’s hard to ask for help when it is for your own family,” Shannon says of raising the $12,000 for the assistance dog.

Pizza Hut in Fayetteville has agreed to help raise funds on Monday, Jan. 16. Pizza Hut will donate 20% of purchases between 11 a.m. and 10 p.m. to Justin’s service dog. Those who want to participate need to specify that they are there for the Justin Kinninger fundraiser.

Shannon has made requests for help from the Rotary club, the Kiwanis club and her church as well as various other organizations, but they have a long way to go. “It’s tough in the current economic environment, and with all that has gone on to ask people for help,” she says. “Wags to Whiskers in Peachtree City has agreed to place a jar in their store for donations.”

If you are interested in donating funds, have ideas on how to raise funds or would like to help raise funds alongside the Kinningers, you may email Shannon at skinninger@bellsouth.net. For more information about 4 Paws for Ability log onto www.4pawsforability.org.

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