Meet Mo, our therapy dog

Research has shown many benefits to therapy and reading dogs in school settings.  St. Michael and All Angels CE VA School has introduced the use of a therapy dog into the emotional well-being provision at school. 

Children can benefit educationally and emotionally, increase their understanding of responsibility and develop empathy and nurturing skills through contact with a dog. In addition to these benefits, children take great enjoyment from interactions with a dog.

The benefits

School dogs have been proven to help develop pupils’ reading skills, improve behaviour, attendance and academic confidence, as well as increasing student understanding of responsibility and in the development of empathy and nurturing skills.  At St. Michaels, we hope that a school dog will be a beneficial addition to our therapeutic offer, in addition to the interventions we already offer and promoting engagement for those children who have found it difficult to access talking therapies in the past.

Animal assisted interventions (also known as AAI’s) can:

• Teach empathy and appropriate interpersonal skills;

• Help individuals develop social skills;

• Be soothing;

• Improve a child’s ability to pick up on social cues which are imperative to human relationships;

• Therapy dogs have been shown to support emotional regulation through the positive impact on the autonomic nervous system;

• Show that children working with therapy dogs have experienced increased improved motivation for learning, resulting in improved outcomes;

• Therapy dogs are being used to support children with their social and emotional learning needs, which can also aid literacy development.

Research into the effects of therapy dogs in schools is showing a range of benefits including:

• Increase in school attendance;

• Improved confidence;

• Decreased pupil anxiety resulting in improvements in learning, such as increases in reading and writing levels;

• Improved motivation to learn;

• Enhanced relationships with peers and teachers due to experiencing trust and unconditional positive interactions with a therapy dog;

• Helping children learn how to express their feelings and enter into more trusting relationships;

•  Increase social skills and self-esteem;

• Teach responsibility and respect to all life.

Confidence benefits

“If children are partnered with a dog to read to, for example, the dog provides comfort, encourages positive social behaviour, enhances self-esteem, motivates speech and inspires children to have fun and enjoy the non-judgemental experience”