Sammons Center for Innovation and Research funds animal-assisted OT
Animal assisted interventions [AAI] involves the intentional and structured incorporation of animals within health, education and human services. One form of AAI, animal-assisted therapy (AAT), focuses on utilizing specially trained animals, predominantly dogs, into therapeutic practice. An area of significant growth within AAT is pediatric occupational therapy, where the dogs serve as a modality to facilitate skill development in the areas of learning, self-help, and play. Therapy animals can assist in:
- motor skill development
- neuromusculoskeletal abilities
- weight-bearing, balance, respiratory functioning and cognition
- communication and psychosocial skills
- sensory functioning and perceptual processing
A strong line of research has endorsed the benefits of therapy dogs for increasing comfort, motivation and engagement in OT.
This funding from the Sammons Center for Innovation and Research will be used to launch animal assisted pediatric occupational therapy within WMU Unified Clinics. The specific client population to be served are youth who receive OT services through Unified Clinics where the involvement of a therapy dog is deemed appropriate (by the families receiving services, OT staff and the canine handler). It is anticipated that youth aged 2-17 will be most amenable to animal-assisted OT. Community outreach within the OT clinic is growing, and as such, it is expected that 2-4 clients per week will be served this fall, with an increase of 4-6 in spring and onward. This endeavor will be strengthened with the involvement of OT doctoral student, Jamie Markus, and her therapy dog-in-training, Winnie, in the spring 2024 term as part of her capstone project.
This project is premised on the success and growing presence of therapy dogs at Unified Clinics over the past two and half years. With funding from the Resiliency Center for Families and Children [RCFC], Angie Moe piloted therapy dogs’ involvement at CTAC and RCFC. The pilot was very successful and she has been providing adjunct support during trauma assessments ever since, as well as providing ad-hoc support to TF-CBT sessions, speech and language, and most recently, occupational therapy. A rich data set (involving 500+ hours and 400+ youth) has been gathered on the dogs’ involvement in trauma assessments, much of which are applicable to OT (e.g., building rapport, grounding, providing comfort and encouraging engagement). A year ago, she was invited to start a therapy dog clinic, which has strengthened community outreach and engagement. Information on the clinic as well as the credentials of the three dogs currently involved (Sunny, Oreo and Poppy) can be found at: Therapy Dog Clinic.