January 23, 2023 - Tosha Thorpe told us the history of how Pawsitive Friendships originated. Pawsitive Friendships was founded by Tosha Tharp -Gaitanis in 2014. When her son was diagnosed with High Functioning Autism/Asperger’s Syndrome at the age of four, she quickly realized that no diagnosis was “one size fits all” and that each child should be considered and treated on an individual basis. The idea for Pawsitive Friendships occurred to her while she and her son were practicing their regular home exercises. He was VERY non-compliant because the exercises were difficult and because he was unable to communicate his feelings. When he asked to have Zoe, their French Bulldog, join him on the swing, Tosha was stunned. Both boy and dog loved every minute of it! From then on, Tosha incorporated Zoe into other exercises, and soon his compliance ceased to be an issue. Rather than focusing on what he couldn’t do, he was focusing instead on Zoe. To learn more of this remarkable story click HERE.

 

Our treasurer, Rob, presented Tosha with a check to support her work.