The benefit of a dog
Mackey isn't just a dog that showed at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. He and his sister Bailey spend time every Friday in their owners' classrooms as a way to help their students. Dennis and Judy Krivacek, both special education teachers at Intermediate Unit 1 educational campus at Labratory, say their students see several benefits of having dogs in the classroom. They also plan to use the dogs' presence as academic lessons for students.
Labels: dogs, special education
posted by Dawn Keller at
10:11 AM
2 Comments:
I have such mixed feelings about routinely bringing dogs into classrooms... I have friends who own certified therapy dogs, and my sister worked in a youth center with a strong animal therapy program so I am well aware of the benefits for children with mental, or emotional problems. Dogs have also been successful as "reading buddies" in elementary schools. On the other hand, allergies and asthma are issues in many classrooms and some children are afraid of dogs. So here's my "worst case scenario" as a Board member. "Spot" is declared a necessary therapy/companion animal for "Joey". Spot triggers a phobia attack in "Sally" and an asthma attack in "Jane". Sally's phobia is declared a disability under IDEA and Jane's family sues because her allergy is not taken as seriously as a peanut allergy. In an ideal world, the teacher knows his or her class, communicates with all families well in advance and makes acceptable provisions for any foreseeable issues. If unforeseen issues come up, the teacher & school take the necessary immediate steps to protect all children and all the families say "Well, it was worth trying. Let's try it another way in the future." But in reality? I just don't know...
I know in his classroom, they talk to all of the parents and the parents know.
I never really considered the issue before it came up at Trinity last year. I am really curious to see what happens with the idea of service dogs in schools with their students.
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