Назаретский Крест

Русский Text

Animal-Assisted Therapy – just a bunch of warm fuzzies?

22/01/2010

Animal-Assisted Therapy – everyone talks about, it makes intuitive sense, and arriving home after a hard day to a dog who is deliriously happy to see us makes us feel happy and good about ourselves. But what is Animal-Assisted Therapy? Can anyone do it? What animals are most helpful for which populations? For whom is it most effective? What does it accomplish? These are questions that are commonly asked. In the US, there are numerous advertisements on the internet to the effect of "Come and learn to do Animal-Assisted Therapy with your pet at your local Senior Citizen's Home," "Train your dog to work as a therapy dog to help kids in school learn how to read," "Help raise your child's self-esteem through Animal-Assisted Therapy." These questions and advertisements just scratch the surface of what is, in general, mass confusion over the commonly used term "Animal-Assisted Therapy". Animal-assisted interventions are separated into three categories: AAT (Animal-Assisted Therapy), AAA (Animal-Assisted Activities) and AAE (Animal-Assisted Education). The Delta Society, an organization in the US that deals with the human-animal connection, defines AAT as "a goal-directed intervention in which an animal that meets specific criteria is an integral part of the treatment process. AAT is directed and/or delivered by a health/human service professional with specialized expertise, and within the scope of practice of his/her profession. AAT is designed to promote improvement in human physical, social, emotional, and/or cognitive areas. AAT is provided in a variety of settings and may be group or individual in nature. This process is documented and evaluated." For instance, in AAT, a psychologist adds the presence of animals to her practice of play therapy with children to help them express themselves emotionally, or an occupational therapist will employ her dog to motivate the patient to perform various tasks which will improve functioning. The Delta Society defines AAA as a way to "provide opportunities for motivational, educational, recreational, and/or therapeutic benefits to enhance quality of life. AAA is delivered in a variety of environments by specially trained professionals, paraprofessionals, and/or volunteers, in association with animals that meet specific criteria." For example, an individual may make weekly visits to kindergartens with a different animal each week with planned activities surrounding the animal, a volunteer may make visits to the residents of a Senior Center with her dog, or an expert in dog obedience may run a program in which children with behavior problems learn to train dogs as a way to unobtrusively help the children themselves to accept and internalize the positive aspects of self-control. AAE employs the presence of animals in order to advance certain educational goals. For instance, a child who is too shy to read aloud in class may be asked to read stories to a dog "who needs personal attention and just loves to be read to". However, these definitions are widely ignored in descriptions of various programs. When searching Google, one will find descriptions of programs, advertised as AAT, that use volunteers accompanied by their pets, with the stated goals that are identical to those listed above for AAA. Schools often proudly announce their use of "AAT" in the classroom to promote learning. So, why all the confusion? The main source of the confusion may lay in the misunderstanding between the terms therapy and therapeutic. Therapy is carried out by academically-trained therapists, who receive on-going clinical supervision, according to the general goals as stated by the specific profession in which the therapist has been trained and specific goals according to the individual client. In the area of Animal-Assisted Therapy, the most common therapies are psychotherapy, speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. Many Animal-Assisted Interventions that are not therapy may be very

target=_blank >20101223639(4)_wa.jpg