How Does Animal Assisted Therapy Benefit Individuals with Disabilities

Animal assisted therapy benefits a large population of individuals with disabilities. Individuals with vision and hearing impairments, post-traumatic stress, social limitations, dementia, depression, aphasia and autism can benefit from animal assisted therapy. Animal assisted therapy can be implemented in many different ways; through swimming with dolphins to even the more common animals like horses, dogs and cats. These animals can help in unique ways and impact individuals with disabilities. One of the biggest impacts that animals can have on individuals is helping them to become more comfortable, learn a variety of different responsibilities along with helping to improve individuals’ independence. (McCoy, 2010) This literature analysis analyzes the different approaches therapeutic recreation takes when implementing planned and unplanned activities with a plethora of different animals. All findings revealed nothing but positive impacts physically, emotionally and psychologically, when participants/clients work with animals. The purpose of this research is to educate individuals on the roles that animals play in humans’ lives everyday and open their minds to viewing how animal assisted therapy can truly benefit individuals with disabilities