The Calais School Animal Assisted Interventions (AAI) Program offers therapeutic value that extends far beyond the basic benefits of meet-and-greet scenarios typically associated with therapy dogs. Our handlers and therapy dogs are there to welcome our students every morning and see them off at dismissal, however they are also integrated into the classroom, during counseling and related services sessions and can assist in crisis response situations.

The AAI team collaborates with our Counseling team to hone innovative and effective integrations of Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) and Animal Assisted Education (AAE) developed to meet the varying and complex challenges faced by students with disabilities. Our therapy dogs are extensively trained to handle the clinical and emotional situations that may arise in a school atmosphere as well as during group and individual therapeutic sessions. The incorporation of therapy dogs with counseling and therapeutic support services not only improves student motivation, it creates a noticeable decrease in anxiety as well as improvement in communication, anger management, and peer relations.

Academic Engagement

Calais therapy dog/handler teams cultivate a supportive classroom where students can learn and work toward academic learning objectives with confidence and can make mistakes free from embarrassment or judgement. The presence of therapy dogs in the classroom readies students for learning while improving social skills and student behavior and enhancing concentration. Therefore, learning outcomes for individual students prosper and teachers can build a more productive learning community for everyone. Calais therapy dog/handler teams also give students the opportunity to model the learning objectives they have learned and teach them to the therapy dogs. This increases student engagement, building excitement to be in the classroom.

Crisis Response & De-Escalation

Animal-assisted interventions can empower students to self-regulate their emotions, lower cortisol levels, de-escalate tense circumstances and mitigate crisis situations. This form of intervention harnesses the human-animal bond to provide comfort and support for students who are in crisis due to a traumatic event.

Animal Assisted Therapy

Integrated Animal Assisted Therapy in the areas of occupational therapy, social skills development, speech and language therapy, and counseling helps students reach behavioral and therapeutic goals by delivering highly effective intervention techniques in group and individual settings. Our dogs and handlers assist students by participating in clinical school behavior plans and therapeutic sessions. Each dog-interaction is documented as to length, goals, student participation, and outcome to provide feedback that assists the therapists, teachers, and dog handlers in modifying the goals and strategies as needed.

OT

Incorporating therapy dogs with occupational therapy provides students with an alternate modality for addressing fine motor, gross motor, visual motor, visual perceptual, and daily living skills.

Social Skills

Interacting with therapy dogs provide students with real-life scenarios to develop transferable skills for socio-emotional fluency, making independent decisions and making safe choices.

Speech Therapy

Allowing students to teach a skill or help a therapy dog practice a newly learned skill, gives them conversational engagement experience and small group dialogue exposure. As pragmatic language skills are developed through these interactions, so is the confidence to socialize with others outside of a therapy session.

Counseling

Calais therapy dogs and handlers work alongside licensed counselors and social workers on our counseling team. By integrating therapy dogs into group and individual counseling sessions, students experience decreased anxiety, increased motivation and communication, and improvement in anger management and peer relations.

Animal Assisted Education

Animal Assisted Education (AAE) is a structured intervention where our dogs, handlers, and related service professionals collaborate on individualized goals for their students. The Calais School currently integrates AAE with Reading Remediation. Dogs and handlers work with reading specialists to help students improve on skills like decoding and fluency. Students gain confidence reading aloud to the dogs as they improve vocabulary, comprehension skills, and memory skills.

We now offer a fun extension project called Be A Reading Kid (B.A.R.K.) where students can visit the “Calais Canine Reading Corner” to read to the dogs and have interactive discussions with the handlers. B.A.R.K. builds stronger readers while helping students enhance their expressive language ability.

Animal Welfare, Safety & Training

The Calais AAI Program is a member of the prestigious International Association of Human Animal Interaction Organizations (IAHAIO). IAHAIO is the leading global association of organizations concerned with advancing the field of human-animal interaction. With more than 90 global member organizations and professional associations, it offers international conferences and workshops which provide a wide range of vital information and unique networking opportunities. Calais agrees strongly with IAHAIO’s goals of promoting the benefits and best practice of human-animal interactions and promoting animal welfare standards. Our membership with IAHAIO brings our program to the cutting edge of human animal interaction. We are excited to have a seat at the table in fostering dialogue, information exchange and strategies to move this field forward.

All AAI dogs at The Calais School have successfully received their Canine Good Citizen Certification from the American Kennel Club. The dogs are continually evaluated for health, temperament, signs of stress, and overall appropriateness. Dogs and handlers receive ongoing training and also regularly educate students, faculty and staff. Students are screened for allergies, phobias, appropriateness, desire to work with the dogs, and ability to follow directions prior to any dog interaction.