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AAT ( Animal Assisted Therapy) is a goal-directed intervention in which an
animal is an integral part of the treatment plan (Delta Society). Soul
Friends' believes there are multiple benefit of incorporating an animal in the
clinical work.
Our animal friends enjoy going to work to help children change behavior and
develop new life skills. There are many short term and long term benefits of
animal assisted interventions...
Key Benefits
- Increases motivation
- Improves memory skills and recall
- Enhances self-esteem
- Improves attention
- Improves communication skills
- Provides an opportunity for empathy building
- Promotes self-regulation of mood and behavior
- Increases engagement in clinical work
- Provides an opportunity for learning appropriate touch
- Provides an opportunity for success
Capabilities for Change
Soul Friends, Inc believes in the power of the human-animal bond to
change children's lives. We have seen it work - and we are in the
process of proving it. Soul Friends prides itself on being a
proactive leader in research on the healing benefits of the human-animal bond.
- AAT can help improve eye contact and body control in special
needs children
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- Soul Friends has presented our findings at the International Conference
on Applied Behavioral Analysis on Autism on the benefits of AAT and
TAGteaching ( teaching with acoustical guidance) for children participating
in our group program.
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- A Humane Education program that incorporates animals can improve
children's humane perceptions
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- Our program, We Love Animals!, demonstrated that incorporating animals
into in-class educational programs can improve children's humane
perceptions. ( Nicoll, Trifone and Samuels, 2005)
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- Heeling Hearts, a group program for children living with
social-emotional challenges , demonstrates an improved sense of empathy and
hopefulness
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- Our 8 session trauma-informed group therapy program has demonstrated an
improvement in empathy and hopefulness for children living with multiple
challenges. l
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