The Calais Method Services

AAI can help students excel in the classroom by calming anxiety and promoting relaxation to help students feel safe and ready to engage. We manage and coordinate projects for schools, ensuring that everything is completed on time and within budget – delegating tasks, setting timelines, and monitoring progress.

Therapy dogs are integrated into speech therapy sessions, providing students with conversational engagement experience and small group dialogue exposure. As students develop pragmatic language skills through these interactions, they also cultivate the confidence to socialize outside of therapy.

Calais-Certified therapy dogs/handlers work alongside licensed counselors and social workers in group and individual counseling sessions. The dog’s presence can trigger the release of hormones such as serotonin, prolactin, and oxytocin in many individuals. These hormones are associated with relaxation and stress reduction, potentially alleviating symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Calais-Certified therapy dogs/handlers are trained to work with reading specialists to help students improve on skills like decoding and fluency. Students gain confidence reading aloud to the dogs as they improve vocabulary, comprehension skills, and memory skills.

Animal Assisted Interventions can empower students to self-regulate their emotions, lower cortisol levels, de-escalate tense circumstances and mitigate crisis situations. This form of intervention harnesses the human-animal bond to provide comfort and support for students who are in crisis due to a traumatic event.

We infuse our therapy teams into some of the most stressful and chaotic times of a student’s day – during pick-up and drop off. Therapy dogs greet students during their morning arrival, creating a constructive way to set good intentions as well as a positive and calming tone for faculty, students, and staff. Similarly, faculty, staff, and students can end the day on a high note with a supportive farewell from their four-legged friends.