From Love to Kookies: A Young Maine Man’s Journey With Fragile X Syndrome

While browsing on Facebook, I stumbled upon a business located in Waldoboro, Maine. We often have callers promoting their businesses, but this particular one caught my attention.

As I scrolled through their page, I came across a young man named Landen baking something.

The business page is called K9 Kookies and the description immediately captivated me: "Created to teach our non-verbal son with fragile X syndrome & autism job skills."

Intrigued, I reached out to the owners and had a conversation with Landen's mother, Danielle Stewart.  She explained that she and her husband Jason embarked on this business journey with the aim of teaching Landen job skills.

But now, it has evolved into something much more profound and meaningful for their family.

We absolutely are teaching him job skills, but when we deliver kookies to our local stores, we make sure he is with us so he is learning valuable social skills as well. And, on top of that?!?! The amount of awareness he is spreading is awesome!

K9 Kookies is a pet food business where Landen personally hand-makes "one piece at a time."

According to the National Library of Medicine, there are over 23,000 adults with autism in Maine, and fragile X syndrome ranks among the most prevalent causes of inherited intellectual disability, according to the CDC.

Danielle told me,

Landen LOVES dogs and has always had an amazing connection with them. When my husband and I were brainstorming on what we could do to help teach Landen job skills that he would be passionate about it didn't take long for us to decide that it needed to be something with dogs.

She went onto say that it's a work in progress having him help with the baking process as he has sensory sensitivities with his hands getting dirty but all of the labeling & packaging is him.

Some of the labels may be a little crooked on the packages but that is part of what makes them special. It may seem like a simple thing to put a sticker on a package but it is more work for Landen. We let him pick the music on we listen to and he works really hard on the packaging of the Kookies & labeling of the packaging. 

Danielle and Jason are unwavering in their commitment to their son's health and well-being. From our brief conversation, it's evident that she is determined to go to great lengths to ensure their son enjoys the best possible life, and that is what is important. Love. It has the power to do it all.

Experience the goodness of K9 Kookies for your pups, and stand by this incredible family.