| Popis: |
The goal of the thesis was to find out if dog´s presence and the targeted work of a child with a dog helps improve children´s attention to teaching and their results. The majority of academic literature shows that dog assisted therapy constitutes a clear benefit for children. However, the research on this topic is still in its infancy and the literature is still relatively limited. The thesis deals with the interactions of a child and a dog, especially in the case of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), specific learning disorders (SPU), and autistic spectrum disorders (PAS). The general conclusion of the existing literature is that animal assisted therapy with the dog helps children with ADHD improve their fine motor skills, increases their attention, decreases aggressiveness, and helps to improve speech disorders. But it is not clear what the impact on other types of disorders is. This thesis first focuses on reviewing the existing literature and its main results that mostly confirm the positive influence of involving the dog in therapy by all observed disorders. The second part of the thesis deals with experimental verification of the hypothesis of a positive influence the dog´s presence and the targeted work of 8 children in the age of 7-9 years from a special school has on attention and behavior in the classroom. Four of the children were diagnosed with ADHD, two with SPU, and two with an autistic spectrum disorder. The experiment was carried out two times a week, and focused on observing the extent of children´s concentration on the given task, calming down, attention while solving the assignments, and reduction of negative physical contacts among observed subjects. The data collection took place during regular classes. Once in a week, the class was preceded by the animal assisted therapy with the dog, which formed the treatment group. The second session in the week was not preceded by any therapy to establish the control group for the experiment. The results verify our hypothesis by revealing the strengthening of the positive influence of teaching on the observed skills of the children. The positive influence of the dog is supported by the fact that the children achieved more success in its presence. However, further research on larger samples and children from other age categories is needed. |
