Animals Aid Therapy For Severely Disabled Kids

When trying to engage and interact with children with severe, multiple disabilities, therapists have found that nothing gets their patient's attention like a visit with the pets. The impact of the novelty of an animal's presence during therapy sessions may be considered a crucial component of a successful outcome states Kathy Heimlich in an article published in the May 2002 issue of the Journal of Rehabilitation. Heimlich also states that though not a replacement for the human therapist, the animal becomes a co-therapist, capable of breaking down the barriers that prevent the disabled child from attending to and interacting with his environment.

Heimlic's paper, "Animal Assisted Therapy and the Severely Disabled Child," is based on research she conducted with 14 children and was assisted by her own dog, Cody. But the disadvantage of this type of research is the difficulty faced in documenting the process of the therapy. The outcome of better overall behavior, cooperation in class and demonstrable speech gains indicate animal assisted therapies have qualitative and quantitative impact. Probably the most significant outcome of such research points to the need for everyone to accept that effective therapeutic intervention cannot exist in a vacuum; it must be a team effort.

Heimlich concludes, "We found that by identifying four variables to study - mobility, communication, compliance and attention span - rather than watching for broad behavioral changes, we could more easily measure improvements. This technique is similar to the way special education teachers assess their students and develop Individualized Educational Program (IEP) goals. Once an objective is identified, it is then possible to analyze and measure the steps that will lead to achievement of those goals. In this manner, results can be quantified".