Dogs are the closest animals to humans, they are our companions, partners, guide and assistance dogs. Nowadays therapy dogs take part in different institutions and in different activities. Master thesis with title Integration of therapy dogs into additional professional assistance, presents work with therapy dogs as a way of helping students, that visit hours of additional professional assistance.
Theoretical part presents human – animal bond that was developing for thousands of years. The history of animal assisted therapy is being briefly introduced. We described different forms of animal assisted interventions. We also introduced some Slovenian associations for dog assisted interventions. After that, we described work with therapy dogs, where we focused on the field of education. We described some examples of good practices of integrating therapy dogs in educational setting. Various researches about impact of therapy dogs on behavior, motivation and academic achievements of students, are also presented. Furthermore, we introduced additional professional assistance, that is intended to help students with different educational needs to decrease deficiencies, difficulties and disorders.
Problem, goals of research and methodology are presented in empirical part. The process of gathering and processing data is written up. Using narrative methodology, five cases of good practices are written down and presented in stories. Stories tell us, that therapy dogs form encouraging learning environment and that we can impact on social, emotional and academic development of students. Interviewees named many advantages of bringing therapy dogs to additional professional assistance. Mostly they mentioned increased motivation, reduced feelings of stress and calmness of students. Interviewees stated that bringing therapy dogs to additional professional assistance, brings in a lot of extra work and adjusting during preparation and performing additional professional assistance. They didn’t mention other limitations or barriers, except that there aren’t enough therapy couples.
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