Dogs Help Kids, Inc.
Georgia Educational Charity
501 (c)(3) Tax Exempt An Animal-Assisted Intervention
AAI in Education
An animal-assisted intervention within an educational environment is a curriculum-directed intervention in which a
trained dog supports the children's learning in the already established classroom programs.
Educational benefits can be seen in the form of measurable test results
(BenchMark and CRCT) as the dog helps to facilitate the academic goals set by the
administration. This intervention is delivered or monitored by a professional or a retired teacher. A non-teacher
volunteer working with the dog is also welcomed if they take a
preceptive and submissive position with the school’s educators and the established
curriculum.
We at Dogs Help Kids, Inc. have developed our program to focus on the autistic and developmentally delayed children. Our dogs are in training until two years old with much exposure to the children and environment in which they will serve.
Differences of Animal Assisted Therapy and Animal Assisted Intervention in Education
The following discussion is our belief of the difference
of Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) and Animal-assisted intervention in education. The training our dogs is for service within the primary school environment, working with developmentally delayed children. Therefore, we refer to our dogs as service dogs.
Animal-assisted therapy is a goal-directed
intervention in which an animal is an integral part of the treatment
process. AAT is created and customized, case-by-case, and is
delivered and documented
by a professional or paraprofessional who builds upon their professional
foundation to facilitate change in the individual by incorporating an
animal into the treatment.
Examples of AAT workplaces are with physical
therapists, occupational therapists, certified therapeutic recreation
specialists, recreational therapists, and social workers. Because of
the individualized nature of this therapy, there are other animals in
addition to dogs who are very effectively incorporated to reach the hearts and
minds of children and adults. Please check the www.mnlinc.org site to see clearly many of the avenues of animal-assisted therapy.
An animal-assisted intervention in education is
a curriculum-directed intervention in which a trained assistance dog
supports the already established programs of the school. A professional
educator works within a framework of curriculum and methodology that
are preset by state and federal Department of Education requirements.
The dog is incorporated into the daily lesson plans, and
although the individual student is the target, the curriculum
requirements must also be fulfilled within a desired time period.
Standardized testing is the only known way of realizing the
effectiveness of the teacher's work and the part the dog plays in the
child's learning. The dog's training and behavior testing goes beyond the requirements for an initial therapy dog evaluation to a further level needed to flourish in a 5-10 year old child's
world or in a special education class with autistic or behaviorally
challenged children. To be specific, a dog who is trained and of a "bomb-proof" temperament to flourish in a child's environment would be evidenced by being relaxed in this environment and whose movement could be always directed by a loose lead with never a need for the use of an anti-pull harness or a head halter. The previous standard is always subject to the handler's observation of the dogs' stress signals. If the environment gets too intense for the dog, the dog must be removed for rest and evaluation.