Parents Fighting For Boy's Service Dog Take To TODAY Show

Victory! After a grueling battle with his school district, 12-year-old Andrew Stevens can now bring his service dog Alaya to school with him. More than 370 Change.org members sent emails to Andrew's school urging them to let Andrew, who has epilepsy, bring his trained service dog to school. Their activism paid off! Read more here.

Suddenly, everyone's talking about 12-year-old Andrew Stevens and his German Shepherd Alaya.

Andrew and Alaya are the boy-and-dog team we wrote about last week - Andrew, who has a severe form of epilepsy called Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, relies on service dog Alaya to stay by his side. Alaya is trained to detect seizures before they start, and then alert Andrew that one is coming on. (Sometimes Andrew has as many as 20 in a day.) She also stays by him to support him during and after the seizures. Alaya is part of the Stevens family, and didn't come easily - the family raised $20,000 and worked for two years to bring her home.

Everyone loves Alaya, except Andrew's elementary school in Fairfax County, Virginia (near Washington D.C.). Alaya's been banned from the school by Fairfax County school officials who keep coming up with more hoops for Andrew's family to jump through. They say that Alaya must be certified by an organization that they choose, although the family already spent time and money having her certified by another organization. They say having Alaya at school would be a distraction. And they say that their staff members can do everything Alaya can do.

That's ridiculous -- and illegal -- say Andrew's parents. Alaya is a certified service dog and Andrew needs her, just as a blind child would need her seeing-eye dog. Angelo and Nancy Stevens have struggled with Andrew's school - Ft. Belvoir Elementary - with no success. So they went to the media. Local outlets from FOX News to the Washington Post have now written about the parents' campaign, and when Angelo Stevens talked with Change.org today, he'd just finished up interviews with the TODAY show, currently slated to run tomorrow, January 4.

What Andrew's parents realized, his father said this morning, is that this issue is much bigger than a boy and his dog. "We've realized, this wasn't just about us anymore," he said. "This is about epilepsy as a whole." As more and more people write in, show their support and donate to the Andrew Gordon Stevens Foundation -- the foundation in Andrew's honor that is now raising money to pay for service dogs for other epileptic children -- Angelo and Nancy Stevens saw that this is much bigger than just Ft. Belvoir Elementary. If it's this hard for Andrew, how hard is it for other kids? What if they think they're the only ones? "I'm going to make sure it's going to be easier for the next family," Andrew's dad said.

Over the weekend, over 200 Change.org members signed a petition telling Fairfax County officials to work with Andrew's parents and let Alaya come to school with Andrew. With the latest media scrutiny, activist voices and even more support from Change.org members, we can push this issue over the top. Sign the Change.org petition and help make schools more accepting and inclusive for all children with disabilities, and their four-legged helpers. If you're fighting a similar battle, email educationtips@change.org.

Photo Credit: The Andrew Gordon Stevens Foundation