Page 34 - SEN116 January-February 2022

Wellbeing
Animals in education
Nicola Kelly explores the therapeutic benefits of engagement with animals in specialist school settings.
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Specialist schools by their very nature support children with often very complex challenges and needs. As well as social, emotional and mental health difficulties, pupils in specialist settings may have real challenges
with attention, with forming relationships and trust.
They may struggle to communicate and to form bonds with either their peers or with the adults around them. They might have limited life experiences, or unsettled and chaotic home lives. They may be looked after. They may be aggressive or experience behaviour which is challenging for them and those around them.
■ Finding the right animal. SEN116
“It’s not tokenistic and it’s not just a ‘nice’ thing to do”
Having animals in schools to support children with this level of complexity is not a fad, it’s not tokenistic and it’s not just a ‘nice’ thing to do. Animals in schools – and I’m not just talking about dogs – have a multi-faceted role to play not just therapeutically, but also educationally, socially and emotionally – in fact, they can play a supporting role in all those areas which children in special schools struggle with. They’re a non-judgemental friend in what can be a really challenging environment for our children.
The first thing to recognise is that it’s not a ‘one size fits all’ scenario when introducing animals to a specialist school. Therapy dogs, for example. are wonderful and can be really valuable, but they’re not for everyone.
For some young people the ‘fluffier’ animals might not fit the image they are trying to portray or how they see themselves. So they’re happier to engage with the ‘tougher’ appearing animals such as reptiles.
One of our schools is supported by a range of adopted helpers from the animal kingdom across reptiles, mammals and arachnids. In some cases they play similar roles, and in other cases their role in supporting the children is very different. Their ‘menagerie’ includes snakes and lizards such as chameleons and bearded dragons, tarantulas and fish as well as more ‘traditional’ animals including guinea pigs and rabbits.
For some of the students we have found they didn’t want the fluffy animals, they felt the reptiles were more ‘for them’ and acceptable within their social peer group. Just because they are not fluffy doesn’t mean that reptiles can’t fulfil many of the same sensory needs as a rabbit or guinea pig. They will look for warmth and so are happy to be held to the chest and stroked and so that two-way feedback loop between human and animal is present in the same way it would be with a guinea pig – just in a way that is more ‘socially acceptable’ for the child. One girl, who hadn’t been in school for two years, sat a maths exam with a python resting on her – and got a B!
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