When dogs become therapists

    A growing army of trained animals is helping people — from autistic children to the elderly — enjoy more fulfilling lives

    By ZHOU HUIYING in Harbin, WANG XU in Shenzhen and DU JUAN in Beijing | China Daily | Updated: 2025-01-17 07:48
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    A woman pets a therapy dog during a community event in Beijing on Dec 22. WANG JING/CHINA DAILY

    Success with autistic child

    Starting in 2022, at the beginning of each school semester, some autistic children at Huimin School in Shanghai's Fengxian district have participated in special classes. In one of those, the children had therapy dog partners and played games, guided by Wu Qi and some volunteers, who worked with the teachers to complete certain functional improvement training.

    For example, the children learned to introduce themselves to the dogs, after which they introduced the dogs to other classmates, thereby enhancing their language and communication abilities and gradually integrating into the group.

    They also played fetch, cooperated in balancing yoga balls and focused on feeding, which helped develop sensory abilities, improve attention and teach the animals to follow instructions.

    For children with more severe autism, petting the dogs was a good way to help stabilize emotions in many cases.

    "The intervention of therapy dogs in the classroom had a direct impact on improving the emotions of some children," said Wu Huizhe, a teacher at the school.

    She described a child with significant emotional disorders in her class who was initially restless and often abruptly ran out of the classroom.

    "She also had very closed-off interpersonal interactions," Wu said. "But after attending four sessions with a therapy dog, she could sit quietly in the classroom for the entire 35-minute lesson and have simple conversations with classmates on the topic of small animals."

    As one of the most populous countries in the world, China is getting older on average. It is projected that by 2035 the population of people aged 60 and above will surpass 400 million, creating some unique problems for individuals and society.

    Over the past decade, the PFH team has stayed close to the elderly, providing animal-assisted therapy — a form of non-drug treatment — to communities and nursing homes. The interactions with animals provide surprising physical and mental benefits.

    While receiving basic medical care and other services, the elderly can relax, relieve stress, enhance social skills and find more joy in life by interacting with small animals.

    Since participating in PFH's first activity in her community in March, Zhou Yuezhen, a 68-year-old resident of Shanghai, looks forward to every visit with the dogs.

    "I had a dog about 20 years ago, but it died, which made me very sad," she said. "Because I was afraid of losing again, I never kept another one.

    "So it is truly a joyful experience every time a different dog comes to our community to interact with us elderly people and play games," she said. "I also participate in other activities, like handicrafts. But the dogs provide other kinds of interactive experiences, which are very different from human ways."

    |<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next   >>|
    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    人妻中文字幕无码专区| 99高清中文字幕在线| 一区二区三区无码高清视频| 亚洲中文字幕无码久久综合网 | 中文字幕欧美日本亚洲| 日韩精品无码久久一区二区三| 中文字幕无码日韩专区| 国产中文字幕视频| 无码精品人妻一区二区三区AV| 亚洲va中文字幕无码久久| 最近2019中文字幕电影1| 亚洲AV无码成人精品区大在线| 日韩精品久久无码中文字幕| 亚洲精品99久久久久中文字幕| 亚洲开心婷婷中文字幕| 无码精品人妻一区二区三区AV| 成年免费a级毛片免费看无码| 亚洲AV无码专区国产乱码电影| 中文字幕丰满乱子无码视频| 亚洲韩国—中文字幕| 亚洲一区二区三区在线观看精品中文| 国产成人AV无码精品| 色爱无码AV综合区| 无码人妻黑人中文字幕| 亚洲精品中文字幕无码蜜桃| 无码av高潮喷水无码专区线| 亚洲日韩AV一区二区三区中文 | 无码免费一区二区三区免费播放| 久久无码中文字幕东京热| 中文字幕在线视频第一页| 日韩a级无码免费视频| 最近2019中文字幕一页二页| 乱人伦中文视频高清视频| 一本加勒比hezyo无码专区| 在线播放无码后入内射少妇| 乱人伦中文无码视频在线观看| 国产网红主播无码精品| 13小箩利洗澡无码视频网站免费 | 久久国产高清字幕中文| 亚洲AV中文无码乱人伦下载| 91中文在线视频|