Animal Assisted Therapy for Children in Guatemala

During this first quarter, Argos provided 83 therapies to 20 different children with disabilities in Santiago Atitlán and its surrounding communities, many of which previously received weekly animal-assisted therapy with Mo’os. Even though most of these children can’t pronounce his name, they have adapted well to Argos, or as some children affectionately call him, Arroz, and through therapy have continued to make significant advances. 

In this time, Argos made two visits to the veterinarian. While his abnormal scratching was initially diagnosed as hypothyroidism, a follow-up visit disproved this diagnosis. The vet concluded that the scratching, which has now normalized, was most likely the result of changes to his daily routine, a new home, and a new job. However, if the scratching were to pick up again, she recommended allergy tests.

In addition to individual therapy sessions, Argos also works with pairs of children with disabilities to promote socialization. In these sessions, exercises are designed to stimulate collaboration so that both children work together to complete a common goal.

Brothers, Javier and Nicolás, participate in group therapy together. Javier is a very happy two-year-old that was born with spina bifida. As a result, he was operated on when he was just a few months old. His mother longed to see him take his first steps and, soon after, Javier began to receive physical therapy at Adisa but he did not enjoy coming to therapy and he often cried and clung to his mother’s side.  

When Javier was a little more than a year old, he started attending animal-assisted therapy and quickly began walking. On his first day of therapy, he interacted very naturally with the dog, combing his hair, feeding him, and little by little performing more activities. When Javier was asked to place particular objects on Argos, he would stand up, walk a certain distance to collect the object, and then return to Argos and place the object in its appropriate space. Over time, Javier became more and more comfortable to the point that his mother no longer had to sit with him.

His brother Nicolás, a shy four-year-old, was cared for by his grandparents when his brother was undergoing surgery. Nicolás and Javier did not play well together at first. Nicolás would get annoyed and did not want to share his toys with Javier, often hitting him.

Like his brother, Nicolás also joined our animal-assisted therapy program. More and more, he began to enjoy combing Argos´ fur, feeding him, and hiding objects under Argos for his brother to find. With Argos, Nicolás is learning his colors, shapes, vowels, and numbers.

After several individual sessions, the two brothers began attending animal-assisted therapy together.  They now work well together and play without fighting. Javier no longer cries when his mother is not around and Nicolás now shares his toys with his younger brother. They both love feeding Argos and walking him around the field at the school. When the therapy session is over, neither of them want to leave the room, instead wanting to continue playing with Argos.