THERAPY

ChalTherapyTherapy

(Private or Group)Sean will consult closely with you to tailor therapy lessons for people or animals with special needs. Dogs and horses are typically used to help people.
For People:
People can be children, adults, or seniors, with disabilities or challenges (such as autism, hearing and visual impairment, psychological, study, learning, or physical issues). Sessions can be in classes, your own therapist’s office, organizations, or at home. For example we can bring a special dog to your speech, physical, ABA, or other therapeutic visits.

K9Sign for Canine Therapy for People with Challenges:

AnimalSign provides Canine Therapy through Service dogs for Special Needs People. One example is that we train Special Companion dogs for children with autism. We have partnered with NorthStarDogs to work with families while we train the young special dog. We train the dogs in the home and teach service skills and K9Sign to both autistic children and their dogs. We use the most positive, supportive, and ethical ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) methods, plus some of our own positive AnimalSign approaches. Dogs and kids love to see Sean for sessions. This enhances the manners, communication, and bonding for both child and dog. Children and dogs who learn to communicate together, bond together.

Canine Visits:

Our therapy dogs visit to educate and expose children and adults to the warmth and bonding easily found with dogs. Special dogs can help special people. Visits can last one to several hours, visitng several classes. People learn how to understand and behave better with dogs.

In the session many options are available:

* dogs can lay down (near or far) while people read, sit, or pet the dog.
* dogs can take the people for a walk.
* dogs can hug the people, or allow affection exchange.
* dogs can demonstrate common communication skills. The dog will communicate to the children/adults, and they will learn how to communicate to dogs. People can communicate to the dog with hand/body signs, reading cards, or even speech.

For example: people can have arts/crafts and make a card that says ‘SIT.’ The person shows the sign to the dog, and the dog will sit. This communication promotes bonding, known to facilitate learning. This event is the most popular for classrooms and assisted living situations.

EquineSign for Equine Therapy

AnimalSign has provided EquineSign Language training at various equine centers (one is Monterey Bay Horsemanship and Therapeutic Center).

For the Humans:
Sean provides workshops for the volunteers, who learn teach the horses to communicate in EquineSign. The challenged riders then can sign their wishes to the horse. For Example: the rider can sign ‘STOP’ or ‘WALK’ to the horse. This strengthens the human-horse bond and empowers both. Children and horses who learn to communicate together, form a stronger relationship, and make a better team. Bonding helps learning (in a physiological way).

For the Horses:
EquineSign enhances communication between human and horse, and provides enrichment to horses in rehabilitation (recovering from injury), bored in stalls, in need of behavior modification (improving responses), or young and in need of activities. This provides them mental stimulation, positive behavior lessons, thus decreasing frustration. As EquineSign is taught the human-animal bond grows deeper, and the animals respond more willingly to human requests.

General Therapy:
Animals may display behaviors not conducive to good relations with people, or some behaviors that pose risk to the animal and humans themselves. Sean will provide communication-based therapy to teach the animal (and human responsible) how to behave more appropriately. The AnimalSign method uses positive, cooperative, approach to behavior modification. Animals love working with her.

Do you know another individual or organization that could benefit from AnimalSign services?

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