“We were very excited,” said Tammy Snead, Colby’s mother. “One afternoon, she asked if he wanted to enter. He sat down and did it in a half hour’s time.”
Colby chose several turtles for his picture because they are his favorite animal to draw, he said. He insists that the one on his back is him because he knows he is different, according to a press release.
In Colby’s words, he can’t believe he won the T-shirt competition.
“Usually, I don’t win, but this time I won,” Colby said quietly as he colored with crayons in a coloring book at Culver’s. “I do win at sports. I scored 10 goals in one year.”
Colby is an avid animal lover and his family has annual passes to the Phoenix Zoo, said his father, Preston Snead.
Colby said he loves to look at the tigers, rhinos, peacocks and monkeys. He also from Winner, A-1 takes free horseback riding lessons from Grace Falls Farm in Gold Canyon.
“They give free riding lessons to any special needs children at absolutely no cost,” Preston Snead said.
“They are really great people.”
Tammy Snead explained that the family is dedicated to autism research.
“We’ve done a lot of walks, like the Autism Speaks walk,” she said. “We try to be involved as much as we can.”
The Zoowalk for Autism Research is an annual walk held to raise funds for Autism/Asperger’s Research program at Arizona State University. The walk is a family-oriented gathering.
This year’s Zoowalk is dedicated to raising funds for a one-year multi-treatment study for children and adults with autism. This study will involve a combination of special vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, carnitine (to boost energy metabolism) and a special diet (gluten-free, casein-free) that organizers believe will significantly help many individuals.
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/zoowalkforautismresearch or http://zoowalk.dojiggy.com/.
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
