In recent years, a tremendous amount of time has been spent studying what scientists call "the human-animal bond" - often simply The Bond - and its relationship to the mental and physical health of humans. (So far, nobody has spend significant time analyzing the benefits, either mental or physical, to animals.) Findings have been positive, and in some cases, amazing. On a segment of its website dedicated to the health benefits of companion animals, the Delta Society – an international organization devoted to animal assisted therapy – cites studies profiling these benefits:
- Seniors who own dogs go to the doctor less than those who do not. In a study of 100 Medicare patients, even the most highly stressed dog owners in the study has 21 percent fewer physician's contacts than non-dog owners. (Siegel, 1990).
- Activities of daily living (ADL) level of seniors who did not currently own pets deteriorated more on average than that of respondents who currently owned pets. (Raina, 1999).
- Seniors who own pets coped better with stress life events without entering the healthcare system. (Raina, 1998).
- Animal-assisted therapy can effectively reduce the loneliness of residents in long-term care facilities. (Banks, 2002).
- Medication costs dropped from an average of $3.80 per patient per day to just $1.18 per patient per day in new nursing home facilities in New York, Missouri and Texas that have animals and plants as an integral part of the environment. (Montague, 1995).
- Pets in nursing homes increase social and verbal interactions adjunct to other therapy. (Fick, 1992).
- Having a pet may decrease heart attack mortality by 3%. This translates into 30,000 lives saved annually (Friedman, 1980).
If companion animals can so dramatically improve the life of senior citizens, it's not unthinkable that they might do the same for students and teachers. Besides their ability to enhance a curriculum in every subject from science to reading, it's clear that animals can enrich the entire learning environment of a classroom.
Studies show that ADHD students find animals calming and reassuring; simply watching fish swim in an aquarium provides practice in attention focus and calms hyperactive children. Autistic children will make connections to animals that they rarely make to human beings, and animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is now a regular fixture in many special education programs dealing with autistic children. Emotionally disturbed children who cannot function in a mainstream school setting often thrive in animal-enriched special education environments.
Students exposed on a regular basis to companion or therapy animals in the classroom benefit because these animals…
- provide social support and unconditional acceptance (Endenbug & Baarda), particularly to shy children or children “at risk.”
- facilitate the development greater self-esteem. (Bergensen, 1989; Kale, 1992)
- help defuse potentially disruptive behavior. (Curriculum Review, 1993, Schoen, 2001)
- “…increase enthusiasm for school and learning, decrease disruptive classroom behavior, teach stress and anxiety management, (and) help children learn to value nature.” (Beck & Rudd, 2001)
Other studies not involving classroom pets but still studying the human-animal bond in relationship to children reveal findings of benefits transferable to the classroom. For example,
- Children’s cognitive development can be enhanced by having a pet. (Poresky, 1988)
- The presence of a dog during a physical examination decreases a child’s stress. (Nadgengast, 1997, Braun, 1998) It’s not farfetched to wonder, then, if the presence of a dog might help reduce test anxiety and raise standardized test scores!
- Children who own pets score significantly higher on empathy and prosocial orientation scales than non-owners. (Vidovic, 1999). As some children are unable to own pets in their own homes, the presence of a classroom pet might provide a welcomed substitute!
More specific are the benefits to children requiring special modifications or considerations in their educational programs. Many therapy programs for children have long included animals as partners in this work, and studies show why:
- “In cases of severely disabled or mentally handicapped children, it has been observed that animals were able to induce behavior patterns not otherwise appearing.” (Montagner, 1986, cited by Nebbe)
- Male juvenile offenders entering a resident facility showed a tendency to respond more openly and with less hostility to an interviewer when a dog was present during their interview. (Gronski, Peacock, and Ruckert, 1986)
- Emotionally disturbed students and autistic students are more likely to interact with animals in their environment than with people. (Davis, 1986; Redefer, 1989)
Other studies listed by the Delta Society provide additional insights:
- Contact with pets develops nurturing behavior in children who may grow to be more nurturing adults (Melson, 1990).
- Children exposed to humane education programs display enhanced empathy for humans compared with children not exposed to such programs. (Ascione, 1992).
- Positive self-esteem of children is enhanced by owning a pet. (Bergensen, 1989).
What's more, a classroom pet – when it is also the teacher's pet – helps diffuse the stressors of working in a high-pressure, emotionally demanding environment. For adults in general, an act as simple as holding and stroking a pet results in clear physical benefits – lowered blood pressure, reduced stress, deeper breathing, psychological calm. In addition,
- Pets fulfill many of the same support functions for adults and children. (Melson, 1998). The logical follow-up question to this: would the benefits pets provide to senior citizens transfer to adult teachers and young students?
- Dogs in particular are preventive and therapeutic measures against everyday stress (Allen, 1991). Could the “time out chair” more effectively defuse student stress-related “acting out” if a companion animal was there to sooth the misbehaving student? Could teachers become more efficient problem-solvers and trouble-shooters if their stress levels were eased by a furry friend?
- Pets decrease feeling of loneliness and isolation (Kidd, 1994). What teacher has not, on occasion, felt isolated and cut off from the rest of the world? For students, loneliness and isolation are part of daily school life…
- Pet owners have lower blood pressure (Friedmann, 1983, Anderson 1992) and lower triglyceride and cholesterol levels than non-owners (
Anderson
- Pet owners have fewer minor health problems (Friedmann, 1990, Serpel, 1990). Could classroom pets reduce the number of sick days taken by over-stressed staff?
- Pet owners have better psychological well-being (Serpel, 1990). More importantly, do students and teachers with “better psychological well-being” prepare more effectively for and perform better on standardized tests? It would seem only logical!
Speaking for myself, during the time when I was permitted to keep mammals in my classroom, my four pet rats proved indispensable for giving me a "mental break" when I needed it most - or, tipping the hat to Bill Wallace's Calvin and Hobbes, giving me a dose of "fuzz therapy." On one occasion, a staff development day had left me nerve-raw and emotionally seismic; retreating to my own room for lunch, I closed the door and spent half an hour brushing, cuddling, and talking to my "boys," most particulalry my big brown male rat, Trickster. Though he had no idea what the newest educational buzzword was, he seemed to know that something was intensely stressing his person… he nuzzled my hand, licked and "nibble groomed" my fingers, and settled into my lap to "brux" happily (bruxing is the rat version of purring).
Needless to say, I returned to the workshop feeling more centered and capable than I had at the start of lunch.
Needless to say, I returned to the workshop feeling more centered and capable than I had at the start of lunch.
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