Overview Program Objectives and Benefits Additional Programs

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Programs Overview Rainbow services the city of Chicago and the surrounding 6-county metropolitan area. We currently operate over 75 programs, reaching more than 1000 children monthly. Services are provided for many different types of organizations and facilities.

Click here for testimonials. "My daughter is 19 years old and was chospitalized here 4 years ago. We still have a picture of that dog from animal assisted therapy on the refrigerator to this day. If you ever wonder if what you do with these dogs is important, believe me, it is."           — A patient's mother

Animal assisted therapy sessions are conducted in small or large group settings and even in individual sessions, when appropriate. Rainbow works directly with each organization and staff to identify the objectives that are unique to their program. After the objectives have been reviewed, a program chair is assigned from the Rainbow side and the program is staffed with dogs that would be appropriate for the specific objectives and facility setting.

Those we service with special needs learn to improve their motor and verbal skills while working directly with the Rainbow dogs, often doing things happily for the dogs that they will not do for anyone else. The unconditional love and patience provided by our special therapy dogs help to increase the self esteem and motivation of those they work with. In addition, the benefit provided by working with the dogs lasts far beyond the therapy sessions. Quite often, participants display a remarkable determination to learn other new skills and apply their newly acquired skills to other areas of their lives. 

All of our programs, besides building skills, give the children a focus other than their disability or disease, and also provide a happy respite from the rigors of daily life.

Programs Objectives
and Benefits

Rainbow services a wide range of organizations and facilities. The grid below lists the various types of programs that Rainbow serves and the benefits/objectives that can be realized from each program. While each program has unique needs and objectives, common benefits resonate through like-kind programs, as illustrated below:

Schools Areas of Use • special education • remedial education • behavior modification Needs met/objectives reached • motor skill development • social/intellectual skills • self-esteem • self-control		Hospitals Areas of Use • in-patient/out-patient psych • occupational/physical therapy • child-life centers • bedside visitation • waiting room visitation Needs met/objectives reached • social/intellectual skills • self-esteem • self-control • warmth/happiness
Residential Centers Areas of Use • group recreational therapy • group therapy sessions • occupational/physical therapy Needs met/objectives reached • motor skill development • social interaction development • theraputic mobility   (range of motion) • verbal communication • self-esteem		Park Districts Areas of Use • day camps • special education Needs met/objectives reached • social integration • motor skill development • social/intellectual skills • behavior modification • self-esteem/enpowerment • self-control

Additional Programs Offered by Rainbow

Crisis Response

Rainbow’s Crisis Response Team is composed of registered therapy dogs and their volunteer handlers who have received extensive training in order to respond to an emergency or disaster event.  Field training includes:  relating to emergency personnel, traveling on various means of transportation and working in all types of public arenas.  The Team’s goal is to aid rescue workers and volunteers as well as to help calm and support victims during a crisis situation.

Dog Apprehension

Rainbow offers special classes which are specifically designed for children who have an excessive fear of dogs. The program allows the participants to develop skills and confidence in safe interactions with dogs, teaching techniques to enable the children to overcome their fears and to control the situation.

Read to the Dogs

Rainbow works in conjunction with many librarians throughout Chicago and its suburbs to provide this service. In this program, children get the chance to read for 10 to 15 minutes to a willing and attentive therapy dog, thus turning the reading environment into a non-threatening place where children can read for the fun of it! In this environment, there is no risk of being embarrassed when the child mispronounces a word, reads at a slow speed or does not comprehend the exact meaning of the sentence.

Dog Safety

Dog bite injuries are among the leading cause of pediatric admissions to hospital emergency departments, with half of all children being bitten by a dog by the time they are 12 years old. This alarmingly high number of dog bites can be reduced by teaching children how to behave safely around dogs. In an effort to help reduce the number of dog bites in children, Rainbow Animal Assisted Therapy has developed a dog safety program to promote education aimed at the prevention of dog bites and to increase child safety in interactions with dogs.  The program is suitable for classroom visits and targets children between the ages of 5 and 9 (grades K-4).

Speaker’s Bureau

We encourage organizations to learn more about Rainbow Animal Assisted Therapy and our programs throughout the Chicago area. 

For more information on existing Rainbow programs or to inquire about Rainbow working at your facility, please e-mail Susan Burrows at rainbowprog1@ameritech.net.

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Overview Program Objectives and Benefits Additional Programs