World Autism Awareness: 'Chester the dog encouraged my son to talk'

As World Autism Awareness Week gets underway, we’re hearing from inspirational seven-year-old Alex Duthie. Alex’s autism left him housebound and totally non-verbal - that’s until his best friend came along to change his life.

Since getting Chester the Labrador support dog, Alex has come on leaps and bounds - he can now get out and about more, and has even learned to say his beloved dog’s name.

Alex joins us today with his best-friend Chester, and his parents Anna and Adrian.