As a French study reveals that children with autism can improve their social skills if they are given a pet, Nuala Gardner, 47, from Gourock, talks about how a dog transformed the life of her autistic son:
"I used to be a midwife so know quite a lot about baby development and I remember when my son Dale was two weeks old, it was as if his mind was switched off. He would just lie in his pram. He would never cry. I had this inner sense that in my arms was a slow ticking bomb and one day, developmentally, I knew the bomb was going to explode.
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