Rook and Turbo’s story

Life has well and truly changed for seven year old Rook who has Autism. These days, he is showing more confidence. Rook’s dad Adam says, “Rook is opening up and talking to people he never would have before. He loves telling anyone who will listen, ‘My name is Rook, this is Turbo. He is my dog’.”

Other children don’t want to play with Rook, and he often feels very alone. Now a big black Labrador with bags of personality is his best friend. The pair run around, chasing each other, as the sound of laughter rings out from the garden.

For many people, a trip to the cinema is a normal part of happy, family life but, before Turbo’s arrival, an outing to the movies was unthinkable for Rook and his parents. Recently, with Turbo by his side, the whole family were able to go see Spiderman at Hoyts and stay until the very end. Instead of running up and down the aisles after 15 minutes, Rook stayed focused. Turbo lay curled up by his feet. At one point, he even whispered very quietly in his Adam’s ear, “I need to go to the toilet, Dad.”

Another life-changing development is that Rook hasn’t had a single nightmare since Turbo joined the family. Thanks to Turbo, Rook slept all through the night for the first time ever. We think that’s a pretty amazing achievement! Imagine the impact this has had on not only Rook, but on Kate and Adam, too.

Rook’s job is to feed Turbo. Kate says: “We still have to remind him of what to do but essentially he does it. Rook loves this. It makes him feel he is responsible for another living being and his confidence levels have soared.”

So a beautiful, bouncy, clever dog is turning a little boy’s world around. Now life is Turbo-charged.

Turbo was proudly sponsored and funded by Hyundai Help For Kids.