Animal Assisted Therapy
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You are probably aware that dogs and horses are often used in various therapies and activities.
For example, Therapeutic horseback riding and hippotherapy involve horses.
But other cute and cuddly creatures can also be used successfully.
Well, nothing is as cute and cuddly as an alpaca!
So, what animal therapies and animal activities are available for alpacas?
Animal assisted therapy (AAT) is a goal-directed intervention in which the trained animal has a vital role in the treatment process of an individual. A health professional such as an occupational therapist or a physical therapist administers AAT. Specific goals are identified for each client. These goals can involve physical, social, emotional or cognitive functioning. Progress is measured and documented. And voile, the individual benefits from these animal interactions in a specific manner.
On the other hand, animal assisted activities (AAA) is much more general. Essentially, these activities involve casual meet and greet activities from pets visiting people. These activities can be performed just about by anyone. The animals enhance quality of life for people either individually or in groups. The benefits can involve stress reduction, increased trust, and socialization opportunities. There is no cumbersome paperwork – just lots of fun for everyone!
Technically, pet therapy refers to therapy provided to the pet usually for a behavior problem. However, I prefer to use the term to mean benefits received by a person from their interactions with their pet. My children with high-functioning autism have learned quite a bit about communication skills through
pet therapy.
You will find various other terms, too. However, AAT and AAA are the preferred terms.
- Animal-facilitated activities
- Animal-facilitated therapy
- Pet-facilitated activities
- Pet-facilitated therapy
- Pet-assisted activities
- Pet-assisted therapy
So, how do we use alpacas in AAA or AAT? Well, we have lots of ideas!
First, we are starting a PetPals program using our alpacas!
Pet Pals is a 4-H program that teaches kids to be involved with AAA. This program strives to link youth and their pets with senior adults in nursing homes.
A 4-H volunteer (me in our case!) teaches the youth the skills needed to interact appropriately. The kids learn about the elderly including changes that occur with aging and various health conditions. The kids also learn about animal behavior, and animal handling techniques. Then, the youth and their pets visit various nursing homes. We are hoping that the elderly will love to hug our alpacas!
Then, we would like to work with a local therapeutic horse riding facility to incorporate our alpacas into AAT if possible.
And finally, we are thinking about starting our own AAA and AAT program through the Delta Society using our alpacas and my medical training.
In the meanwhile, we are training our alpacas using Camelidynamics techniques. They will need even more lead training before we visit our first nursing home!
My daughter, Sierra, has been participating in various youth performance classes in order to prepare herself and our alpacas for AAA and AAT. She has done quite well in these youth obstacle classes and youth performance classes!
So, we have some big plans for our alpacas with animal assisted therapy and animal assisted activities!
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