FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Tiffany Denyer
Founder & President
865-660-0095
wilderwood@charter.net
WILDERWOOD SERVICE DOGS MAKES FEDERAL LAW
Local Service Dog Company wins fight for justice. Students with autism must be accommodated for
service dog access in schools.
April 13th – Wilderwood Service Dogs and their client families have been in a three year legal battle in order
to gain service dog access rights for students with autism. Previously schools across America had been
denying service dog access for students with disabilities. School officials were hiding under such claims “as the
handler is a disabled minor and therefore cannot be the dog handler in school. This created immense hardship
on the families and constituted a complete violation of civil rights. Client H.P (child D.P.) and Wilderwood
Service Dogs have now changed the face of discrimination. As of April 13th, 2015 the Department of Justice
has ordered that
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The District must permit D.P. to bring her Service Dog to school without also having to provide a
separate adult handler. The ADA mandates that students with disabilities be afforded the same access
to, and enjoy the same benefits of, the services, programs, and activities as students without disabilities
and the District has not established that the provision of reasonable modifications to assist D.P. would
fundamentally alter the nature of the service, program, or activity. 42 U.S.C 42 § 12132; 28 C.F.R. §
35.130(b)(1) and (b)(7).
Make reasonable modifications to District policies, practices, and procedures where necessary to avoid
discrimination against a student with a disability who uses a service animal unless the District can show
that making the modifications would fundamentally alter the nature of the service, program, or activity.
Reasonable modifications, depending on the individual circumstances, include, but are not limited to,
providing assistance to a student with a disability in tethering or untethering the service animal and
escorting a student with a disability throughout the school or campus as he or she is accompanied by a
service animal, and assisting a student with a communication disability in issuing commands to the
service animal
Additionally Wilderwood Service Dogs and client C.H will be completing its first Medicaid contract in May. The
first case of complete Medicaid payment for Psychiatric Service Dogs
Wilderwood Service Dogs is proud to on the forefront, setting legal precedence for clients everywhere. We
continue to provide superior service dogs for individuals of all kinds and ages with neurological disabilities.
Wilderwood Service Dogs, a nonprofit organization trains service dogs for children on the Autism Spectrum as
well as adults with diseases such as Dementia, Alzheimer or Mental Illness.
Children with autism who have been nonverbal are now talking. Parents that haven’t been able to get a full
night sleep in years because their children will continually wander the house, are now sleeping through the
night. Children that have been having numerous meltdowns are no longer having meltdowns or the number of
them has decreased dramatically! Wilderwood has seen stemming behaviors stopped and pica issues
resolved. Families are finding normalcy return to their lives that they had not had in years. All of these
changes can be attributed to the introduction of a service dog for their children!
Wilderwood’s Dementia/Alzheimer placements have recorded higher scores on their physician’s mini mental
exams and on average the client can stay in their home an average of 3 years longer with less assistance.
Tiffany’s Story
A psychiatric nurse by trade, Tiffany founded a nonprofit organization called Wilderwood Service Dogs that
assists individuals with autism and other neurological disorders. Tiffany has helped many children with autism
cope by having a canine companion to help them in their daily lives. With a small group of volunteer and staff,
she trains and provides approximately 10 service dogs per year to families across the country.
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