The Power of the Human-Animal Bond: How a Speech Therapy Dog Can Help Enable a Calm, Learning State of Mind
Then…
Somehow I just knew I’d be fine.
I was twelve years old and it was a different time. My parents let me walk the trails near my house as long as I took along our little Cocker Spaniel mix, Prince, and it was my favorite place in the world. For an awkward pre-teen with a serious tendency to dwell on my imperfections it was wonderful to be alone in the quiet, towering embrace of the woods.
But then one day I took a wrong turn and realized I was lost.
Utterly.
Lost.
As I wandered aimlessly the Pacific Northwest rains started, heavy enough to penetrate the forest canopy and soak those of us silly enough to have left home without a coat. The wind picked up and I started to panic, worst case scenarios drawn from news coverage flashing across my brain.
Unable to think I called Prince to my side and sat down and cried. I told him I was sorry I had gotten us lost.
But Prince didn’t seem upset in the least. As he kissed my face and wiggled his little behind, I felt a calm come to my mind that I can remember vividly to this day. His happy-go-lucky attitude somehow infiltrated my being and I was able to breathe again, slowly switching my brain away from reactive panic back to focused problem-solving.
Prince and I didn’t stay lost. With my anxiety eased somewhat I was able to retrace my steps, find the courage to cut across a brushy slope, and find familiar landmarks to lead us back home. Whether I was one meter or one mile away from the main trail I’ll never know now, but I truly believe Prince’s calming presence is what enabled me to find the way home and build the resilience to keep exploring trails, literal and figurative, for the rest of my life…
My dog Prince and pony King; first experiences with the human-animal bond long before I knew the term.
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Now…
I was recently brought back to this moment in my childhood when a speech therapy client was having a particularly difficult day at my private clinic. I had only seen this child a few times and it was clear he struggled to persist when receiving feedback about his articulation, even though his sound substitutions were fairly minimal compared to most kids on my caseload.
After spending the session following him around the room as he did everything in his power to stall, avoid, and refuse to try making a /g/ sound with both picture stimuli and movement-based games, my speech therapy dog Delta spontaneously got up from her bed and walked over to where he huddled on the floor. After getting him seated Delta gave some encouraging sniffs and the boy was willing to pet her as we reviewed an (admittedly revised) written plan for the last few minutes.
I watched as he started petting her in a slow rhythm, timing his speech attempts with his pets and looking to her as if for re-assurance. When she tentatively gave his face a little lick, his smile melted my heart.
By sheer luck I happened to be recording this session with the purpose of capturing “turn and tell” moments, not having known in advance how dysregulated this child was on this day. To watch how his breathing, body movements, and speech all naturally slowed in rhythm with the strokes down Delta’s back, click here.
No, it wasn’t a great session overall. But thanks to Delta’s presence, we were able to end with a little success not only on the specific goal sound, but more importantly, with a feeling of accomplishment, calmness, and maybe a little resilience to keep trying the next session.
Therapy Dog Delta and I after our photo shoot for Paws for Progress: Integrating Animal-Assisted Interventions into Your Speech-Language Pathology Practice.
The Power of a Speech Therapy Dog
Therapy dogs can play a number of different roles within animal-assisted speech therapy sessions, but I have been most grateful for their ability to help switch an anxious or resistant child from a state of fight-or-flight to a calmer state.
Having worked with kids with emotional and behavioral challenges most of my career, the foundational truth I always focus on is that if a child isn’t calm they can’t be expected to learn. Whether it’s a speech sound, grammar skill, or coping strategy, a child who is feeling panicked simply won’t retain the lesson no matter how well explained.
My view of these kids flipped entirely when I learned to think of oppositional behaviors as panic attacks turned outward.
It’s easy to be compassionate when a child is quietly crying, but harder when a child is throwing items and screaming obscenities unless you realize it is the same state of panic driving both. For my favorite resource on this topic, click here.
My different speech therapy dogs have been able to help anxious kids in different ways.
Delta is naturally empathic and just seems to know when to sidle up to a stressed child. By communicating a desire for attention she encourages the child to move their body and momentarily switch their focus. Sometimes I’m then able to prompt some additional calming strategies, but sometimes her presence is enough.
Johnny Utah was less in-tune with the specific emotions kids displayed, but his unwavering happiness was often contagious. He would persist in wiggling and leaning against a child, which I could often use to redirect attention and interrupt escalating anxiety. Playing a game of Simon Says and laughing at Johnny’s enthusiastic but often inaccurate attempts to perform tricks could burn off a little adrenaline and lighten the mood before readdressing the goal of the day.
Bodhi naturally loved to lean against kids as they worked, providing a calming deep pressure. When needed he would lie on a child’s back or legs for more intense deep pressure work and he even gave “hugs”, resting his paws on a child’s shoulders.
(Note: I don’t generally recommend letting kids hug dogs around their neck as dogs may perceive this as uncomfortable or threatening based on how they naturally communicate, but for Bodhi this was a unique and natural behavior he would sometimes spontaneously offer. For my favorite resource about how dog’s communicate, click here. (See also “To Hug or Not to Hug: That is the [Therapy Dog] Question”)
And much like her predecessor Johnny, my newest partner little Sky the Brittany spaniel is also eager to wiggle up to everyone, often adding little kisses or gently putting a paw on a child to get their attention focused back on her and away from whatever is worrying them.
While very different in their approaches to an anxious or upset child, I’ve found every one of my therapy dogs has been instrumental in certain moments to help a child switch out of sympathetic mode (“fight/flight/freeze/fawn”) and back into some semblence of parasympathetic mode (“rest and digest”).
One of my favorite photos: therapy dog Johnny Utah gives a kiss of encouragement during animal-assisted speech therapy.
How Speech Therapy Dogs are Affected by a Child’s Anxious Behaviors During Animal-Assisted Interventions
As animal-assisted interventionists, we are responsible for our therapy dog’s welfare and must be vigilant to watch for signs of undue stress.
I am of the belief it is impossible to keep a therapy dog’s work life “stress-free”, though you may see this promoted by some organizations and individuals. The very nature of the work is that they are away from home, keeping an unnatural schedule (dogs generally sleep most of the day), and surrounded by clients and families that are coming to therapy because some characteristic is causing stress in their own lives.
Keeping stress to a reasonable level by taking into consideration your dog’s age, level of experience with the work, unique qualities, and even time of day (e.g., perhaps feeling fresher in the morning than late afternoon) when deciding how actively involved he or she will be in a session is important.
Learning to recognize your individual therapy dog’s signs of mild and moderate stress to intervene well before they show any red flags they are overwhelmed is a key skill to learn and refine as you partner with a therapy dog. Some dogs are more subtle in their cues and require more careful interpretation of their behaviors. For my favorite resource on this subject, click here.
Delta in particular seems quite affected by emotional contagion. After a tough session she often retreats to her bed in my office and will sleep soundly for longer than usual. If a child ends up still highly dysregulated when leaving the office, as happens on occasion despite our best efforts, she will even stay “in a funk” for a few hours.
This does not happen when she is actively involved playing high-energy games with kids who are eagerly participating, so I know it is the mental challenges and not the physical ones that drain her.
(For more, see The Big Bad Wolves of Therapy Dog Training: Three-and-a-Half Things to Avoid When Preparing for Animal-Assisted Speech Therapy)
Therapy dog Delta need extra time to rest and decompress after a challenging animal-assisted speech therapy session.
Because of this, I can’t rely on her always being available and am sure to have back-up plans for every session in case she is napping. We both benefit from decompressing with a walk or play break together as soon as possible after a challenge as well.
Though it started with Prince long before I had any idea of the challenges my future career would hold, I learned as a child that dogs can make a difficult situation more bearable. Their abilities to calm and regulate an anxious person are still being studied as researchers examine the power of the human-animal bond.
Therapy dogs bring those intangible qualities to the front lines daily.
For more stories and guidance on implementing animal-assisted speech therapy, check out the book Paws for Progress: Integrating Animal-Assisted Interventions Into Your Speech-Language Pathology Practice and the course Talk to the Paw: Therapy Animal Inclusion in a Professional Setting
And watch Therapy Dogs Explained: How Can A Therapy Dog Help Calm an Anxious or Resistant Child on the Speech Dogs YouTube Channel.
May your days be filled with puppy wiggles and children’s giggles,
Sharlet
