In Six Years, My Autistic Son Had Never Once Hugged a Living Thing. We Did Not Understand Why a Shelter Employee Broke Down When He Finally Did — Until She Told Us What Had Happened to That Particular Dog.

Synopsis

I want to tell you about Eli before I tell you the rest, because you need to know him a little to understand what this meant. Eli is six. He is small for six. He has his father’s dark eyes and a cowlick at the back of his head that no amount of water will lie down. He lines things up — his toy cars, his crayons, the apple slices on his plate — not because…