11 year old Ruben Spice is like any typical 6th grader...

He watches TV, plays with his siblings, and climbs trees... The only difference is, he does it all with Asperger's Disorder.

It may be a *mild* form of autism, but there are still plenty of challenges.

"He still has roadblocks and issues, especially behavioral issues" says Eileen Charette, Ruben’s Mother.

Those behaviorial problems could be curbed with the help of an autism service dog.

"4 paws for ability" helps families with autistic children by bringing specially trained dogs into their lives.
The canines help in a protective and therapeutic way.

"It gets 400 to 600 hours of training which includes search and rescue with tracking, includes being able to identify hazards like water- pools, lakes, ponds, urban hazards- like crossing the street, and it would be able to go out in public with us." Says Charette

"I am very hopeful and excited about this dog, I am really sure it will help me a lot." Says Ruben.

Ruben and his family have raised more than 2 thousand dollars so far with the help of local organizations.
They are still more than 10 thousand dollars away from getting the dog, but plan on having more public fundraisers.

This dog will be the first autism service dog in the Wiregrass area.
Until then, Ruben will wait patiently and with the help and support of his family, will overcome his obstacles.

"It seems like we will conquer this one, but there is another issue that will come up and we'll have to work on that, but he is a great kid and he is so smart." Says Chip Charette, Ruben's Stepfather.