Animals in the Learning Environment

Positive interaction with animals can both improve human health and enhance our ability to interact with others.

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Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) and Animal-Assisted Counseling (AAC)

• Boris Levinson discovered in 1962 that withdrawn and uncommunicative children would have positive interactions with his dog (Chandler, 2001).
• The dogs can provide an excuse for students to visit an adult and allow the adult to engage with more students (Chandler, 2001).
  • While students are engaged interacting with the dog the student feels safe which allows the adult to converse with the student in a relaxed and casual manner.
  • Trust with the adult can be facilitated by the presence of an animal because tension and anxiety can be lessened or relieved by the entertainment and fun of interacting with an animal (Chandler, 2001).
• Common mental health treatment goals in AAT are to:

• improve socialization and communication;

• reduce isolation, boredom and loneliness;

• brighten affect and mood, lessen depression, and/ or provide pleasure and affection;

• improve memory and recall;

• address grieving and loss issues;

• improve self-esteem, be presented with opportunities to succeed and feel important, and improve feelings of self worth;

• improve reality;

• improve cooperation and problem-solving ability;

• improve concentration and attention, and increase engagement;

• decrease manipulative behaviors;

• improve expression of feelings;

• reduce general anxiety;

• reduce abusive behavior;

• improve an ability to trust; and

• learn appropriate touch (Gammonley, et al., 2000).

• Common mental health treatment interventions in AAT that assist in meeting the goals listed above may include to:

• practice teaching the animal something new;

• engage in play with the animal and other types of appropriate interactions;

• learn about and practice care, grooming, and feeding of the animal;

• learn other information about the animal (breed, history, etc.);

• reminisce about the animal or past animals;

• remember and repeat information about the animal to others;

• take the animal for a supervised walk;

• receive and give appropriate affection to and acceptance from the animal;

• discuss how animals may feel in certain situations;

• learn gentle ways to handle animals;

• follow a sequence of instructions with the animal;

• observe and discuss the animal’s response to human behavior;

• interpret animal behavior as it happens; and

• generalize animal behavior to human circumstances.