Timothy

Timo is a firecracker of a kid! He is incredibly sharp and has a knack for numbers, but what brings him the most joy is creating art - whether it's painting, creating comics or building little sculptures. Of course, most of his sculptures are dinosaurs, because Timo is our resident dinosaur expert.

He was diagnosed with autism at age 3 and only spoke to his mom, dad and sister Faith for many years. After a traumatic hijacking incident, I enrolled Timo in play therapy. Given that he was non-verbal, I thought play therapy might be the best way to support him and help him work through his trauma.

One day, on the way home from play therapy, Timo's mom sent me voicenotes. She was recording Timo talking to the Uber driver. Keep in mind - this was a complete stranger to Timothy, and Timo had never ever spoken to anyone other than his immediate family. This was a massive breakthrough. Since that day, Timo speaks to everyone and his confidence has skyrocketed.

He is really curious and asks lots of questions, always eager to learn and to know more. Timo is really affectionate and makes sure to give everyone in my family a hug - and ask if we brought our cat - every time we see him at the park.

Timo used to be quite scared of animals, but at our first event with Therapy Top Dogs, something magical happened. Timo stayed faaaar away from all of the dogs, until a little dog called Perro went up to him. And then, suddenly, they were inseparable. From that day on, Timo stopped being scared of animals and now just absolutely loves every dog and cat he comes across.