What are some signs that my child would benefit from animal-assisted therapy?

Children communicate through play and through experience. Many children have a hard time talking to express emotions or to express complex thoughts. Working with an animal can help children within the experience during therapy. The struggles that are most commonly seen when working with children in animal-assisted therapy are:

What are the benefits of animal-assisted therapy for my child?

Animals offer real and meaningful feedback. Animals operate in many of the same ways as children: without a filter. Animals are open and honest with how they are feeling and what they need in that moment. Children connect better with animals because they speak closer to their language and communicate through actions and communicate based of their experience. Animal’s can help children find new ways of behaving and can help them find new patterns early in their life so they can continue to express and recreate those patterns throughout their life. Animals can help the brain of a child get in a place to learn and follow patterns that can speak to both the emotional and logical side of the brain.