Bideawee Tails from a Volunteer
Pet Therapy in the Classroom
by Florence Scarinci
The author of the book of Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew Scriptures wrote, "What has been done, will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun." If we look back in history we can see that the idea of therapy pets is not new. Throughout history, dogs have been found assisting shamans, physicians, nurses, therapists as they practiced their healing arts. Today therapy animals have found their way into educational institutions where they continue to work their wonders. Maybe there is something new under the sun.
The ancient Greeks believed that certain animals possessed healing qualities. Dogs were numerous in the Temple of Aesculapius (the god of healing) and their licks were considered curative. In the 9th century, farm animals played an important part in "occupational" therapy for people with disabilities living in Belgian group homes. During Elizabethan times, physicians, who had few drugs to prescribe, and no tests to use in diagnosis, recommended lap dogs as a comfort for abdominal ills. In the 1790's the Quakers, true to their kinder, gentler formula for living, established York Retreat where psychiatric patients could work with, tend to, and associate with animals in their natural surroundings rather than be confined to institutions.
As the world moved into the industrial age, animals continued to play an important role in healing mental and physical wounds. In 1880, animal lover and famed nurse Florence Nightingale, recommended small animals as companions for those suffering from chronic illness, since she understood that they provided a distraction from unremitting pain. In 1942, the doctors in the Department of the Army recommended animals to help veterans cope with and recover from "shell shock" or what we now know as, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
In the modern age what had been known intuitively for eons would soon be proven empirically. In the 1960's scientists began to study and document the therapeutic benefits of therapy animals. Finally, in 1980, the American Veterinary Medical Association now backed with scientific proof of the benefits of therapy pets, promulgated guidelines for the participation of animals in therapeutic venues. Of course, by this time dogs and cats had become a fixture in nursing homes and hospitals, cheering up the residents, assisting in physical therapy, calming children being prepared for surgery and reducing anxiety in psychiatric patients.
The usefulness of animals, particularly dogs, was limited only by the therapists' imagination, so it was not long before some clever teachers also found ways to incorporate dogs into lesson plans. Therapy dogs are having an increasingly important role in supplementing traditional education and are going to schools, helping to teach the three r's.
My dog Penni is one such dog. In previous columns I have written about how dogs help reluctant readers gain facility and confidence. Please allow me to tell you what Penni does in a school for children with special needs that helps them also learn "'riting" and "'rithmetic".
About 12 years ago, the Educational and Outreach Coordinator for Bideawee received a call from a teacher at a school for the deaf. The teacher was a dog lover and had been thinking of ways that a dog could help with her lessons and the children in her class. These children had multiple challenges in addition to their deafness and the teacher felt that a dog would relax the children at the start of the day enabling them to settle down and focus on their school work. At first, Penni, who had been bred to be a service dog for a deaf person and understood commands in American Sign Language, began to visit during the first period of the school day. During Penni's visit the children would play with, brush, pet, and ask questions about Penni.
Scientists have recently discovered that petting a dog releases the hormone oxytocin into the bloodstream of the person doing the petting. Oxytocin has been shown to increase socially appropriate behavior. They also discovered that the presence of therapy animals causes the release of endorphins in the brain creating a sense of calm or even euphoria. Without knowing the physiological reason, the teacher, being a dog owner and having experienced the calming effect her own dog elicited, understood that the interaction with a dog would improve interaction in the class. And it did. After thirty minutes of Penni's visit, the students were ready to tackle the tasks of the day.
The benefits of Penni's presence did not stop at calming the students so that they could master their work. Soon the teacher found a way to integrate Penni into the day's math lesson. For a lesson on fractions, cleverly disguised as a cooking lesson, the students would bake biscuits for their friend Penni as the teacher taught the students how to multiply fractions. "We are making treats for Penni today," the teacher announced and "We want to make a double batch so that Penni can have a whole lot to take home with her and enjoy. We will have to double the amounts in the recipe so if the recipe calls for one half cup of chicken broth, how much is two times one half cup?" If the recipe specifies one and one half cup of flour, how much is two times that amount?" Without realizing it, and with the goal of making their furry friend a treat, the students were learning fractions.
Next the teacher thought that designing an agility course for Penni would help teach the students measurement and angles. After Penni and I arrived at the school with a minivan loaded with agility equipment: weave poles, hurdles, a tire, a pause table, the students constructed an agility course with the weave poles spaced at the proper distances and the other obstacles arranged at various angles. Then they challenged Penni to run the course with me.
Providing the motivation for math lessons was not the only thing Penni would do. She could also be the spark for grammar and spelling lessons. American Sign Language, the third most commonly used language in the United States, is a rich, conceptual language with its own grammatical rules. For deaf students, English is a second language with different grammatical conventions. How could Penni help with English grammar, spelling, and composition? The teacher thought that it was time for the students to start inviting Penni and me to visit using email without the conventional, short cut language so common to computer users trying to convey their messages quickly like "c u soon". Only proper grammar and composition could be used in the email invitation and it had to be in the proper form of a letter with date, salutation, body, and conclusion:
October 13, 2010
Dear Florence and Penni,
Will you please visit us next Tuesday, October 20, at 11:30 a.m.? If you can come, please also bring some agility equipment. We would like to practice.
Thank you.
Yours truly,
Sam
Sometimes the date and time that the students have requested have not been convenient for me necessitating emails back and forth until we can agree on a mutually convenient appointment. Each email that the students and I exchange when we're determining a mutually agreeable time must be in the proper form and the students don't realize that correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and the proper social conventions are being reinforced. All they know is that they want their furry friend to visit and play.
They have learned their lessons so well, that they have corrected my letters. During one of our exchanges, I forgot to conclude my response with "Yours truly" or "Sincerely" and at our next visit, they chided me for my mistake.
Therapy dogs as teaching assistants? We have indeed given a new twist to an old idea.
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The Content of Her Character
All in a Day's Work
Size Does Not Count---or Pocket Pets as Therapy Animals
ON THE ROAD AGAIN WITH PET THERAPY
READING TO DOGS - IT WORKS!!!
BAW SENIOR DOG FOR A SENIOR
PET THERAPY - NOT JUST FOR GOLDEN RETRIEVERS ANYMORE
BIDEAWEE: A NEW VERSION OF READING TO DOGS
AN UNSCHEDULED THERAPY DOG VISIT
BIDEAWEE DOGS and CATS GO GREEN
BAD ECONOMY BAD FOR DOGS AND CATS
LIFE GOES ON: Bideawee's Pet Loss Support Group
A Therapy Dog at College Teaches Important Lessons
Part 2: ADOPTING AN OLDER DOG: Joys and Challenges
ADOPTING AN OLDER DOG: Joys and Challenges
The Cat Who Changed My Life
The Lonely Cat's Best Friends
Therapy Benefits: What's In It for Me?
