Therapy With Animals
Empowering Children Through Purposeful Partnership With Animals
At Hummingbird Pediatric Therapies, we understand the value of developing meaningful connections with others to support your child’s overall health and well-being. As part of our services, we offer sessions incorporating animals, centered on developing connections through the human-animal bond, to support your child’s well-being through positive, therapeutic interactions, all while meeting your child’s goals.
Our Services With Animals
At Hummingbird, we offer both occupational therapy and counseling services incorporating animals through all groundwork, or unmounted, activities with a variety of animals. When an animal is present, your child is still working on their identified occupational therapy and/or counseling goals, and the animal partners with us to help your child meet those goals. We are able to make these services possible through our partnership with the Ray Graham Association Hanson Center, located at 15W431 E 59th Street in Burr Ridge, which also serves as the site for our hippotherapy sessions. The animals incorporated into the session may include, but are not limited to:
Guinea Pigs
Rabbits
Goats
Donkeys
Equines (Horses)
Explore Related Therapies
Speak With a Therapist
Why incorporate animals into sessions?
When your child receives services incorporating animals, they will still be working towards their occupational therapy and/or counseling goals. Your child’s goals will depend on the discipline, which can include, but is not limited to:
Occupational Therapy
- Interoception
- Social-Emotional Skills
- Executive Functioning
- Play & Social Skills
- Fine Motor/Visual Motor Skills
- ADLs & IADLs
Counseling
- Emotional Regulation
- Mindfulness & Grounding Techniques
- Self-Control
- Confidence & Self-Esteem
- Empathy
- Social Skills
In addition to the goal areas listed above, research has shown that incorporating animals into skilled sessions may further lead to improvements in:
- Social Skills and Engagement
- Language and Communication
- Emotional Expression
- Self-esteem
- Motivation
What does a typical session look like?
Our sessions incorporating animals are typically scheduled as an hour long session, with 30 minutes of the session allowing for direct, individual, or small group interactions with an animal present. The remaining 30 minutes of the session is spent without the animal, in which your child works with their therapist to practice applying the skill learned with the animal to functional activities without the animal.
It is important to understand that the ability to partner with an animal within the session is dependent on your child’s goals, and it is determined on a session-by-session basis whether or not an animal is appropriate for each session.
Some activities your child may engage in with the animal can include, but are not limited to:
- Petting/handling small animals
- Walking the animal on a leash or lead rope
- Grooming the animal
- Assisting staff in caring for the animal
- Observing the animal in their natural environment
Is my child appropriate?
Before starting services, we will work with you, your child, and your child’s current therapist(s) to determine if incorporating an animal into the session is the safest and most therapeutically appropriate option for your child. If interested, you will engage in a screening process in which we consider factors such as allergies, phobias, emotional regulation, safety awareness, and history of human-animal interactions.
It is important to understand that partnering with an animal within skilled sessions is not for every child, and our team of experienced therapists will work with you to recommend the services that are most appropriate for your child at this time.
Getting Started With Therapy With Animals
1) Evaluation for Occupational Therapy and/or Counseling Services
Before incorporating services with animals as part of your child’s plan of care, your child must first complete an initial phone call with an intake coordinator and schedule an evaluation for occupational therapy or counseling services, depending on your child’s needs. Once your child has started services, we will work with you and your child’s therapist to determine if services with animals is the best fit.
2) Screening
After starting services at Hummingbird, we will consider if services incorporating animals is appropriate by completing a screening questionnaire with the child’s caregiver and current therapist. The screening process will identify any relevant health information, regulation strategies, safety concerns, and prior experience with animals to consider before starting these services.
3) Informed Consent & Transition to Barn
Once we have identified that your child is appropriate, we will complete the informed consent process with you prior to transitioning to a session incorporating animals at the barn!
Get Started
Interested in your child receiving occupational therapy and/or counseling services incorporating animals? Contact Hummingbird Pediatric Therapies today! We’d love to connect and see how we can help your child take flight!