Meet Duke!

Duke is a service animal, and our speech and feeding assistant! He comes to work every single day. Duke takes his job seriously! He participates in oral motor exercises right alongside the kids (his personal favorite: licking peanut butter off his nose; and a crowd favorite for obvious reasons).

He helps kids accept a spoon. He tries new foods with them, because somehow eating a green bean feels way less scary when a dog is doing it too. He’s also one of the best motivators on the team!

We’ve had picky eaters who hadn’t tried a new food in months, take a bite because of Duke’s involvement. We’ve watched kids who walked in overwhelmed, completely settle down within minutes of being near him. There’s something about the calm presence, the steady energy, the I’m-just-here-and-I-believe-in-you vibe that helps reinforce and motivate the children to try new things that they might not normally like!

If your child isn’t into dogs, that’s totally okay — Duke is happy to hang out in his spot and stay out of the way. But for the families who love him (which, let’s be honest, is most of them), he’s a huge part of what we do!