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HEALING
CHILDREN THROUGH PET ASSISTED THERAPY
By Dr. James Feinberg
Is your child having difficulty making friends?
If so, should you be worried? Given that a child’s
ability to make friends, grow friendships, and maintain
friendships over time not only reflects his current psychological
health but his future psychological adjustment and success
as an adult, the answer is without a doubt, yes.
When children are not progressing socially, this is a
strong cue that something serious is going on. In fact,
lack of friendships is often indicative of an underlying
behavioral, emotional, psychological, and/or neurological
problem. A meticulous evaluation is essential to sorting
out not only what is going on but what therapeutic interventions
are warranted. However, often, after only a brief interview,
a diagnosis is formulated and a prescription is written.
This is usually where treatment stops. Although medication
may alleviate some symptoms, it does not teach coping
strategies or skills absolutely essential to learning
about relationships.
So, how do children learn to make friends? Their brains
provide an internal framework for social learning but
interaction and modeling fine tune the process. Yet, some
kids do not naturally learn the essentials, namely social
judgment and social skills. Sadly, the harder these children
try, the more their peers reject them for acting inappropriately.
The more their parents and teachers try to help by pointing
out what they are doing wrong or should be doing differently,
the more shame these children feel. Clearly, these kids
need help and on a number of levels but where do they
and their families turn?
Pet assisted therapy is an extremely effective modality
of treatment for childhood and adolescent social- interactional
problems as it is highly empowering as well as non-shaming.
Because children naturally gravitate toward pets because
they want to love and be loved, the stage is easily set
for social learning and emotional healing. Through guided
interactions with my highly skilled therapy dogs, G and
Dude both of whom are German Shepherds; children learn
the nuts and bolts of relationships without even realizing
it. This learning occurs gradually and in steps where
the initial goal is only to observe my therapy dogs’
behavior and speculate what my dogs are trying to tell
them. Children then learn to observe the effects of their
behavior upon my therapy dogs’ facial expressions
and body postures. Later, these children are encouraged
to try other social behaviors to obtain the desired response
from my therapy dogs. With time and repetition, these
children not only learn to accurately read social cues
and adjust their behavior accordingly, their emotional
wounds are healed as well. Children and their parents
consistently tell me that my loving four legged companions
have greatly assisted them in transforming their lives.
To quote one child, “G is the best teacher I ever
had!”
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beginning any therapy or medical treatment. |
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