Animal-assisted therapy brings rewards and joy to Oak Point community

Every Friday is “Diggity Day” at Oak Point Elementary School.

Diggity, a 4-year-old Labrador mix, is a registered therapy dog who comes to the school each week to work with speech-language pathologist Maria Papas’ students.

Although Diggity primarily assists students who have Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) that include speech therapy, she also sometimes visits classes and is a much-loved Oak Point celebrity. When Papas walks Diggity down the hallways, she encourages students to silently wave to the dog, but excited exclamations still escape from students who spot and hope to greet Diggity.

“When Diggity is in the building, I just love the positive impact she has on the whole student body,” Papas said. “They love to see her and connect with her.”

Papas trained Diggity to be a therapy dog during pandemic-era distance learning. Diggity first passed her Canine Good Citizen test and then received her therapy dog certification from the Alliance of Therapy Dogs at 1 year old. In addition to her therapy work at school and in private practice, Diggity has volunteered at speech therapy camps and nursing homes.

When Papas began working at Oak Point two years ago, she arranged with Chris Rogers, the school’s principal, as well as district administration, for permission to bring her therapy dog in to work with students. Diggity supports students and helps reinforce lessons in social skills, articulation skills, receptive and expressive language skills, fluency skills, and literacy skills.

Families are able to opt in or out of having their children work with Diggity. Papas said she shares information about animal-assisted therapy with families so they can decide if it’s suitable for their child.

Diggity is always supervised closely by Papas, who also makes sure Diggity is well-groomed. Papas brushes Diggity’s teeth every night and bathes her frequently so she smells fresh and clean, and to reduce the risk of dander.

Papas, who herself has a warm, kind, and supportive manner, said Diggity’s gentle, patient demeanor makes her an excellent fit to work with children.

“She just calms kids down,” Papas said, citing studies that show how working with therapy animals can help improve mental health. “Post-COVID and just in general, anxiety is a big thing for a lot of families and kids these days. When they’re around Diggity, I see their bodies and their minds just calm. Even just the act of petting her is calming to kids.”

Especially for her students who have a stutter, Papas said, “Diggity is a non-judgmental listener, so it’s calming for them to practice their strategies with her.”

Papas said Diggity helps her students gain confidence while learning language skills and motivates them to reach their communication goals. “When I tell them that Diggity is listening to their sounds because they know that dogs have a really good sense of hearing, they are motivated to work harder,” she said.

Students can read to Diggity, pet her while Papas reads to them and earn rewards for working hard on their language skills and reaching their speech sound targets. Rewards might be getting to brush Diggity, having her do a trick show or holding her leash while they walk with her to and from their speech therapy sessions.

Diggity performed tricks on a Friday in late December for three young Oak Point students working with Papas. Diggity’s tail thumped appreciatively as she received pats and small bits of cheese as a reward.

As Diggity raptly watched Papas for her next command, Papas observed to the students that Diggity “was demonstrating whole body listening,” which is something Papas also encourages her students to do.

Diggity enjoys being with the students. When one student arrived for his session, Diggity’s heavy tail wagged in welcome. Papas asked her student, “What is her tail telling you? She feels — ?” “Happy,” he said, with a huge smile.

Papas also records short messages on large plastic electronic buttons that Diggity can press with her nose or paw to let her “talk” to students. “Good girl,” Papas said when Diggity pressed a button with her paw to “say” hello to the student who had just arrived.

Papas also encourages students to record words and messages on the buttons to practice their speech sounds and create ways for Diggity to “speak.”

After the student asked for “buttons” to be his goal reward that day, he set a timer for his speech exercises. First, he practiced “th” sounds, saying words like “thumbprint,” “thistle,” “Thursday,” and “thorn,” as Papas encouraged him and Diggity sat nearby, a reassuring presence.

Next, the student worked on pronouns by looking at photos of Diggity and then describing what was happening using the “she” pronoun. “She is smelling a flower. She is playing with her ball. She is popping the bubbles,” he said.

The student giggled appreciatively at several photos, including one of Diggity “working” on Papas’ computer, another of her wearing sunglasses, and puppy photos of “baby Diggity.”

“Look at her,” he said with a smile.

Papas said her student “loves Diggity. She’s so motivating, and they have a super-fun connection. She also helps him socially because they developed a bond; we talk about their bond and how he can make connections with other kids.”

Once the speech exercises were over, Papas and the student recorded the names of their favorite animals into the voice buttons, then asked Diggity to press the one that corresponded to her favorite animal.

“Snakes,” the button said in the student’s recorded voice. “Diggity loves snakes; that’s one more thing you have in common,” Papas said to the pleased student.

After the session wrapped up, Papas walked the student back to class while Diggity trotted obediently alongside, ready to pick up her next friend.