10-year-old West Butner has autism. His mother, Lauren Chavez, told 9 News that– four years ago– she would have described her son as “a hermit” and “pretty severely impaired.” But now, West is unafraid to talk to others, and is readily making friends. So what changed in West over the past four years? Well, he met Ricochet.
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Ricochet is a golden retriever with two special talents: 1) surfing and 2) making meaningful connections with all kinds of people, without any words, of course. Ricochet works for Waves of Empowerment, a program which uses surfing to empower people with disabilities, mostly people on the autism spectrum and veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Lauren says WoE is to thank for her son’s dramatic change.
Ever since West first met Ricochet, he’s felt a close connection with him. Judy Frindono, founder and executive director of WoE, says that’s exactly what Ricochet does best. “When a child with autism is nonverbal, Ricochet can communicate with them. They don’t need to be verbal.” She says interactions with Ricochet are “on a deep heart-to-heart level… They’re connecting in ways they’ve never connected before.”
9 News
Judy points to the video below as an example of Ricochet’s empathy and ability to communicate, as Ricochet briefly makes eye contact with West after their ride, making sure he is safe before heading to the beach.
9 News
Why is it, then, that one day West told his mom he didn’t want to ride with Ricochet anymore? Well, West had decided that he was ready to take on a leadership role with WoE. Now, he’s a “junior water handler,” helping other program participants as they learn to surf with the sweet pup.
Check out the video below to see these sweet friends ride together.
Share West and Ricochet’s heartwarming story today!
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