Handbook on Animal-Assisted Therapy (Fourth Edition)Foundations and Guidelines for Animal-Assisted Interventions
2015, Pages 211–224
Abstract
In
2013 Green Chimneys was visited by groups of human service
professionals and students from Japan, Germany, and Austria and more
than 100 individual professionals wanting to observe our human animal
interaction programs and to learn “how we do what we do” with children
and animals in a residential treatment setting and special education day
school in order to replicate aspects of our program. Many of these
guests were looking for guidance and were seeking specific advice on how
to justify, conceive, and implement animal-assisted interventions (AAI)
and animal-assisted (AAA) activities in a special education
environment. Many had questions on how to convince school administrators
of the merit that this work offers and how to integrate animals into
existing schools or special education programs. While the Green Chimneys
model can offer unique insights and decades long experience, our
program exists within the context of the United States and evolved as a
nongovernmental school in a unique and very personal fashion since 1947.
It would be difficult to replicate this program in exactly the same
way. But the Green Chimneys experience has wide appeal and broad
application. It could serve as a national, even a global, model for best
practice reform of education starting with the very young. This chapter
intends to serve as an overview and tool for those interested in
applying AAI in the context of special education for children. We will
focus on applied research evidence relevant to this area, provide a
description of the Green Chimneys animal-assisted intervention programs,
show how this approach complements traditional educational goals, and
offer practical considerations gained at Green Chimneys that may provide
helpful guidance to others considering AAI in special education
environments for children and youth.
Keywords
- Animal-assisted interventions;
- Children and animals;
- Green Chimneys;
- Humane education
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
