Animal-Assisted Therapy
Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) utilizes an animal with certain characteristics as a fundamental part of a patient’s treatment in order to achieve specific goals and accelerate progress.
For example, a patient with difficulty in the areas of concentration, communication and fine motor control will be encouraged to pay attention to a story. The patient is then introduced to a parrot and will take turns with the parrot, repeating specific words and turning pages, as directed by the therapist.
Our therapy animals include dogs, cats, rabbits, chinchillas, goats, donkeys, llamas, pot-bellied pigs, cows, parrots and fish. Each AAT session is documented and the patient’s progress is evaluated on an ongoing basis.
Benefits of AAT include:
Physical
- Improved fine motor skills
- Improved wheelchair skills
- Improved balance
- Lower blood pressure
Social
- Increased verbal interaction
- Increased attention skills
- Development of leisure skills
Emotional
- Increased self-esteem
- Reduced anxiety
- Reduced loneliness
Cognitive
- Increased vocabulary
- Improved long- and short-term memory
- Improved knowledge of concepts, such as size, color, etc.