New Term Affiliated with AAT (Animal-Assisted Therapy)

I was trying to find information about animal-assisted therapy and children with down syndrome, and I stumbled upon this instead: http://www.censhare.umn.edu/AAT.html

There is a difference between Animal-Assisted Activities (AAA) and Animal-Assisted Therapy. AAA is where volunteers take their pets to visit certain places for the social benefit of petting and playing. AAT is what I have been researching, where health care professionals or certified therapists use their animal for treatment purposes. I was glad I found this :) I was under the impression that one did not need to be certified in order to work therapeutically with children and animals, and that really made me a little nervous-because so many things could go wrong!

"They need to like people, be controllable, be trained, well mannered, and of the utmost stable personality." This was in the article, regarding the personality of the animal being used for AAT. However, the animal handler needs to "be able to communicate with his/her animal in a gentle, positive manner; recognize their animal's particular signs of stress; and know how to help their animal." These things will help prevent any dangerous situations from arising :) When working with children, we must keep their safety in mind! This site provides a lot of information as to how one can become a volunteer with their animal for therapeutic reasons. Though the site is for Minnesota, it is still very informative.