Before Jarrett Kroneman, 3, goes to sleep every night, he and his mother place a plush teddy bear near his bed and turn the red button on its chest.

A soft voice coos "Dream on the Water" to soothe him to sleep.

The bear, called Spinoza and developed in 1984, is meant to help people with physical, psychological and emotional aspects of their lives.

It helps children learn about emotional health in the classroom. Sometimes, nursing home patients use it for cope with loneliness. Spinoza also helps children cope with traumatic situations, such as hospital stays.

This is the reason Jarrett received the bear.

Jarrett has suffered from asthma and seizures since he was a baby. At three weeks old, he had episodes where he would stop breathing, Gretchen Kroneman said. At 10 weeks old, he has part of his epiglottis removed to help him breath easier.

At 20 months he had a severe seizure and was taken to the hospital. He has had smaller seizures since and now takes medication. He has also some stomach problems as well.

"He's been in the hospital 15 to 20 times," Gretchen Kroneman said.

Despite all of that, he's developmentally on track and has bounds of energy, she said.

"You don't let it stop you though, do you?" she said, turning to Jarrett.

Gretchen Kroneman belongs to online support groups and thinks she first heard about the Spinoza bear from one of them. She requested a bear over e-mail about a year ago. The company found a sponsor to purchase the bear locally -- the Women of the Moose in Austin.

The Women of the Moose gave the bear to Jarrett and Gretchen Kroneman April 25 at its meeting.

Jarrett wasn't the most cooperative that day, Kroneman admits. At first he refused the bear, but once he held it, he wouldn't let it go, said Mary Jane Johnson, Women of the Moose recorder.

"He got in the car and he wouldn't let go of the bear," Johnson said. "He looked at Lori (Anderson, then-Moose president) and said, 'Thanks.'"

At his living room at his house, Jarrett kisses the bear's nose and gives it an enthusiastic hug.

To get the bear to talk, he has to take out a tape recorder that is zipped into the lining of the bear.

"I put it in his butt," Jarrett said, grinning.

His mother laughs. The pouch for the tape recorder is in the bottom of the stuffed bear.

"They get a humongous kick out of where they pull that tape recorder out of," Gretchen Kroneman said.

Jarrett listens to the bedtime tape the most, but the bear came with eight other tapes about topics as easing anxiety and deep breathing.

"It's a comforting thing," Gretchen Kroneman said. "The next time that he has to go to the hospital, I think it would be something to bring along."

Although dealing with Jarrett's conditions aren't easy, Gretchen Kroneman always says the situation could be worse.

"It always seem like there's a cycle of somebody whose worse off," Gretchen Kroneman said.

Spinoza comes with nine audio cassettes and costs $157, according to the Spinoza Web site. For more information on the bear, visit www.spinozabear.com or call toll free (800) 282-2327.

Cari Quam can be reached at 434-2235 or by e-mail at cari.quam@austindailyherald.com