Fairfax County, VA, school officials have denied classroom access to 12-year-old Andrew Stevens and his epilepsy service dog.
Twelve-year-old Andrew Stevens has a severe form of epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. Due to the condition, Andrew can experience as many as 20 seizures a day. However, Andrew has a surgically implanted vagal nerve stimulator in his chest. The device can send an electrical impulse to his brain to ease the severity of his seizures. Additionally, Andrew has a trained service dog, a German Shepard named Alaya.
Alaya is trained to detect the many seizures Andrew has each day. Additionally, Alaya carries a magnet in his collar, which he will swipe over the vagal nerve stimulator when he detects a seizure—often before the seizure begins—to ease, even cease, Andrew’s seizures.
Service dogs are allowed in classroom settings, according to both state and federal guidelines. However, Fort Belvoir Elementary School, where Andrew did attend the sixth grade in Fairfax, VA, has barred the dog from their school, stating that Alaya does not have a certification from the nonprofit group, Assistance Dogs International. However, Alaya is a professionally trained, certified service dog, trained by Seizure Alert Dogs for Life in New York. Yet, Fort Belvoir Elementary School refuses to accept the certification.
On NBCs The Today Show, Kim Dockery, Assistant Superintendent for Special Services for Fairfax County, VA, Public Schools, said she believes Alaya is not safe for other children in the classroom:
“We have a student that functions in the kindergarten/first grade level, he has a dog attached to him. How am I going to make sure that Andrew and the other kids are safe all the time?” Dockery asked on The Today Show.
School administrators have also indicated that they can perform the same function as Alaya for Andrew, but professionals, such as Jon Sabin, owner of Seizure Alert Dogs for Life, disagree. In a Washington Post report, Sabin indicated that Alaya can react in five to six seconds to Andrew’s seizures, whereas a teacher in a classroom would take at least 30-45 seconds. This time difference, Sabin suggests, could be the difference in Andrew's surviving a seizure.
"I think what the school is doing is heartless," said Sabin in the report.
Andrew is currently being homeschooled.
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