S.T.A.R.T. 1
Students Training Animals: Role Therapy
Learning to Train Dogs Reduces Noncompliant/Aggressive Classroom Behaviors of Students with Behavior Disorders
Wendy L. Siegel, A.B.D.; Jane Y. Murdock, Ph.D.; and April D. Colley, M.Ed.
Abstract
We used a multiple baseline procedure across subjects to determine the
effects of training a dog on the classroom noncompliant/aggressive
behaviors of two 13-year-old students (one male, one female) in a special
school for students with behavior disorders. In addition, we took
continuous baseline data on a third classmate who did not have an
opportunity to participate in the dog training due to school year time
constraints. Usually, the dog training occurred on the school grounds.
Videotaping recorded the students' behaviors in the classroom. The data
revealed a notable reduction in noncompliant/aggressive classroom
behaviors as each of the two students sequentially began to train the dog.
However, the target behaviors of the student who did not participate in
the dog training remained consistently high. These findings suggest that
learning to train a dog can effectively reduce apparently unrelated
behaviors (i.e., noncompliant/aggressive verbal and physical behaviors) in
an entirely different environment (i.e., the classroom) from the training
environment.
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