Episode 13: Communicating with Compassion: Annika and Therapy Dog Arlo

In this episode, we welcome Annika Juenemann, a SLP at the clinic, to discuss her journey into speech-language pathology and her experiences with her therapy dog, Arlo. Annika shares how a shadowing experience shifted her focus from counseling to speech therapy. She details her educational background, her initial work with a diverse patient demographic, and her eventual specialization in pediatrics with a strong interest in autism. Annika also discusses her volunteer work with the Minnesota Neurodivergent Organization. The conversation shifts to animal-assisted therapy, where Annika describes the certification process for Arlo, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and Poodle mix, and how he contributes to therapy sessions. Arlo not only interacts with the children but also serves as a model for emotional regulation and alternative communication methods. Annika emphasizes the importance of blending play with therapy to achieve effective outcomes and highlights the mutual benefits of her work with Arlo for both the children and their families.

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to Hear Me Out, the official podcast of the Masonic Children's Clinic for Communication Disorders. This is the place where we dive into all things related to communication disorders and how we can best support the kids and families affected by them. We will be talking with speech language pathologists, clinic staff, families and donors to share stories, insights, and the impact of providing free speech, language and hearing services to children across our community. I'm Niki Lampi speech language pathologist and director of the clinic, And I'm Tamara Pogin, also a speech language pathologist with a focus on working with autistic children and their families. And we are your hosts. We're so glad you're here. Hi. Today in the podcast studio we have Annika, one of our staff members here, our newest hire, annika Dunman soon to be Annika Wise, is here to talk about her therapy dog and all other sorts of interesting things that are happening here at the clinic. Welcome, Annika. Thank you. Glad to be here. Annika, it has been such a pleasure to have you here on our team and you've just brought so much joy and enthusiasm, to the clinic and definitely can tell by the kiddos faces and smiles when they come in to see you. So it's great having you here So we usually, if we're talking to other speech language pathologists, we ask them, how did you hear about speech language pathology? Or how did you become interested in this being your career? That's a great question. Yes. Um. To quote Mr. Bob Ross. It was kind of a happy accident. I knew that I wanted to be in a helping profession and to work with kids. so I'd contemplated special education, teaching, and then counseling was kind of where I was. Set. And my mom had encouraged me to shadow an aunt and uncle of mine who both worked in elementary school, and I went to go shadow them and was ready to confirm my decision of being a counselor with my uncle. and then I spent the day with his wife, who was a speech therapist, and I was surprised, very surprised to see my plan change, but. It was, it was pretty set in stone after that. You liked what you saw? I did. It made sense to you? Yes. Checked all my boxes that I never knew something could do like that. I think we hear that a lot where people, once they find out about it, they just know. Mm-hmm. Like, yep, this is what I want to do, what I need to do with my life. Yeah. And we're so glad you did. Yes. And so, where was your education? I did my undergraduate education at St. Cloud State. I ran track and cross country there as well, so I was busy. and then I did my graduate schooling at the University of Minnesota Duluth. and yeah, stayed in Duluth ever since. So your, your first job, we know that you, worked in outpatient. Mm-hmm. Was it totally, working in the pediatric population or were you like a jack of all trades birthed to the end of life? Yeah. It kind of started out as jack of all trades and was seeing. little friends a year or a little under a year old, and then all the way up to people closer to the end of their lives. and I liked the balance of both. I, again, kids are kind of where it's at for me, so that was always my highlight. But I did really enjoy being with adults too, and building a different kind of connection and relationship with them and. Challenging through a different progression and working through stuff. Mm-hmm. So when you were in college, did you know that you wanted to focus on pediatrics? Or at that time were you, you kind of open or just always knowing that you wanted kids? Yeah, I always knew that it would be kids. Mm-hmm. Do you have any areas that you are really interested in? Because when we start out in our field, there's so many, you know, even within pediatrics, there's so many things you can specialize in. what's something that really stood out to you that you're like, yes, I wanna learn more about this? Yeah. I would say going back to a little prior to me finding the field of speech therapy, I knew. Like a traditional classroom teacher wasn't necessarily the route for me. 'cause that was just like too many, too many kids. and I wanted to have a little bit more connection and I. Throughout, like elementary, middle, and high school, always had really close connections with peers with special needs. and so then I was looking at the field of special education and like, whoa, this could be an avenue for me as well. and so then finding the field of speech therapy and it's like, wow, I can be one-on-one with these kids and whatever their needs are, I am there for them and we get to. Work on whatever their goals are. so I would say, autism has been one of my biggest areas of interest and passion. some of my closest friends are autistic and I just think their brains are beautiful and it's, it's really incredible to get to be with them. you are also part of the Minnesota Neurodivergent, is it an association? Yeah, organization. Organization, yeah. Tell us a little more about that. I. Yeah, so that is a nonprofit, volunteer based organization in Minnesota that is by and for neurodivergent individuals. And right now it has a lot of focus for adults. but now we're looking at expanding into the pediatric realm as well. And yeah, we help facilitate events and building community for. These individuals and that's awesome. Yeah. And it's not just for people with autism, it's neurodivergent. Mm-hmm. So it includes a DHD, different sensory processing disorders, pretty much. If you're feeling like you could benefit, it's open to you. Yes. Yep. Very cool. And it's really interesting you were saying the volunteers, like you are as a kind of like volunteering as a professional, but then there's. It goes across the board. Right? Like who else is kind of involved as a volunteer as you've been working? Has it been like parents? Has it been other neurodivergent individuals who's kind of like the core? With it being a volunteer base, a lot of the team have other, main time professions that they're doing. the core team of Minnesota neurodivergent is, all neurodivergent people. and so that being said, with it being a volunteer base, the team has different professions that they are all working in as their full-time jobs, but yeah, different advocacy people, parents, just a variety of professionals that are passionate about. These populations and wanna help support. And that's something I so admire about you, is you have that volunteer heart, you're always looking for different things that you can help with out in the community, aside from your job, which is full-time. so yes, I was, just gonna comment on that because, the first time I met you, we were collaborating on a client, but then you came and wanted to volunteer for our stage play program, which is a collaboration between the Masonic Children's Clinic and the Duluth Playhouse. Yes. And she came and was a volunteer buddy, which is a social support person for a child that is a student in the acting class. And so it was really great to be like, you're an SLP here. Help support this child who has an a c device. And it was so great because between, you know, you, you did the legwork working with mom to be like, Hey, we're doing this game called, what are you doing? And so maybe finding those places where she can access the, the right responses or the responses that she was interested in in the moment were really neat. And so we appreciate that a lot. It really made a difference in that child's experience, I think. Yeah. And then you're still relatively, um, I guess. Me, between Nikki and I, you're relatively new to the profession. Yes. 'cause you worked in another setting and then you came here, just recently. and what brought you to the idea of animal assisted therapy? was it, did it, did you have experiences, working with other, professionals that had, Animals that they worked with. Yeah. So it kind of felt like a perfect puzzle coming together. I have always loved animals and knew that they would be a part of my world. Then as a speech therapist at my previous location, I had the honor of working with several animal assisted therapy teams and to witness the power of these interactions is something that I'll forever struggle to put into words. And when we met Arlo, there was never a doubt in our mind that we would pursue this. And Arlo is your dog. Can you tell us more about his breed, his personality? What drew you to Arlo besides him looking like a little stuffed animal. So we know that we wanna have kids in our future. and so making sure that we would have a household that was a set up for success in terms of a dog that would be safe for kids and kids that would enjoy this dog as well, and just lots of play. so we had that in our mind as well as looking for a dog that had a nice balance of. Energy and fun and excitement, but also relaxing and calm, and so finding that sweet spot and as well as the size we knew with kids, it can sometimes be scary or intimidating to have a really large dog. A tail whipping in your face. Yeah. Yeah. Getting knocked over different things. I grew up with a big. Like a hundred pound black lab, so mm-hmm. Know that game too. And he was great, but factoring in the size, personality, energy levels, all those sorts of things. And with Arlo being a Cavalier King Charles spaniel and a poodle mix, he has that balance of energy, fun, and play, as well as that calm. Cuddly nature. And then the little hypoallergenic component in there too was a bonus because he doesn't shed Right. Pretty minimally. Yep. Usually just when repression. And so you set out this breed, you set from a breeder. It wasn't like an an animal assisted therapy breeder. That was gonna be a different journey. So tell us about that and how you and Arlo became certified with animal assisted therapy. Yeah, we had done training, through a local training club, and we started out with just a beginner's obedience and we're working on forming that connection between the two of us. They often talk about how it's supposed to just be one handler in the training area with a dog, and just supporting that connection between. The dog and the handler. so just really experiencing and honing our skills in that realm. And then we moved on to a class called Canine Good Citizen. And that is one where they introduced a lot of different components. Having someone other than the handler walk up to the dog, touch their feet. Lift up and look at their teeth, pat behind their ears, brush them, come by with a squeaky wheelchair, rustles some tarp next to them, and just making sure that they don't have any reactions to those things, or if they. Look at it, that they can then just be redirected back into a different activity. So part of the training is just really getting up in their business and trying to see if they'll, how they'll respond to it to make sure they're safe. So, so after canine good citizen. What was the next step? Yes. Then we began looking into organizations that we could be certified through to be a therapy team, and we decided on Alliance of Therapy dogs. I had a few people that I knew that were certified through them and heard really good things about their organization and how they supported their teams. Um, so their evaluation was. A multi-step thing. So we went on site to the local hospital and did an evaluation with just myself and Arlo and the evaluator. And then after that we had three observations where we would go to different locations and the hospital or to assisted living out in the community. And again, just kind of see how they interact with different. People, different sounds, sights, and smells, and how do they respond to an un, if you will say, an untrained person, petting them in maybe a non-traditional way. So how did Arlo respond to all of these different trials? Yeah, he loved it. I can see that. Yeah. He truly just loves everyone and everything, and he can sense that when. People are excited to see him too. And so it's just this fun dynamic where he's excited to see someone new. And then, like you mentioned, he looks like a teddy bear. So you look at this cute dog and then they're excited too, and everyone's just happy and it's perfect. And he is that good mix of. Happy, excited, but also calming. Mm-hmm. it's hard to explain, but it's like you feel that joy, but you also feel very at ease around him. Mm-hmm. So I think that's good for people who are maybe not dog people to still get that benefit of, of having him involved in therapy. So. Exactly. So now that you guys are a certified therapy team, what are your plans on how to incorporate Arlo and into your speech therapy? Yeah, Arlo actually does communicate with buttons at home, and so he has a variety of like action ones that he'll do, whether it's play or outside, and then also has a lot of food related ones. He's very. Food and treat motivated. So cheese and treat are his favorite buttons. That's awesome. Um, but I have always been excited about the way that we could incorporate that with our children who communicate through different modes of communication other than through their mouth. And so I think there's so much potential for. Us to be in a session and a child using a communication device or some other means of communication. And then to see this dog who's bringing this calm presence and interacting in a similar mode to communicate their wants and needs and thoughts. So what are some ways that you've seen your kids respond to Arlo in therapy? I wish I could have like a body camera or something some days because there, there's just so much magic that happens when he is in there and no day looks the same when he's in there. We could be outside running around playing bubbles, laughing that he is rolling around in the grass. We could be talking about how. No Arlo, don't eat the letter A, no, Arlo don't eat the cow. And adding language in through kind of a fun, joking way. there's been times where a child has really wanted Arlo to be in the room and advocated for that, and then they aren't necessarily physically or really actively playing with him. But yet they look over at him. Mm-hmm. And he's laying on the ground playing with his toy, and they're playing with their toys, and they're both just content and calm, doing their own thing. So I kinda like play parallel, play with the animal. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Wow. Or contributing to their emotional regulation because they're like, oh, he's feeling safe. So I'm feeling safe. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And it's been cool to watch opportunities where. The kids can teach Arlo and they can teach him about what is inside these presents that they're opening. They can teach him what they're reading about in the book and say, Arlo, this is a green star, Arlo. This is how we ride the bus and different things, and how motivating. Mm-hmm. They love it. Arlo doesn't know how to make his sound. Let's teach him. And so that's great. Yeah. Yeah. Multiple opportunities. Oh, for sure. so you're introducing Arlo to your families now and starting to have him in sessions. Are there any like misconceptions or myths about animal assisted therapy that come up or that you want people to know? Yeah, I would say. This one has some carry over to, if you'll say traditional speech therapy, in that this notion of things are just play or just fun. And remembering that to learn and communicate can be such a difficult thing and play and fun are incredible and often essential ways to tackle those goals. So sometimes. Explaining to families that, yes, it looks like we're just playing and running around and doing silly things in a session with Arlo, but that's the language and the skills that are coming from this interaction are so valuable and have so much meaning. Yes, I always talk about it almost like you're layering the language on top of. The either predictable interaction or the fun play. And so if all you were trying to do is just put language in there, it didn't have anything to stick to unless you're enjoying it and being regulated. That's a great way to put it. And if you think about learning in general, that's how we all learn. we learn and retain if it's fun and interesting. And motivating. And motivating. And are those very motivating? Yes. I think it's fun to see families when they. figure that out, because when you first come in and you don't know much about speech therapy and what we're doing in sessions, it does look like you're just playing. Mm-hmm. And then you had a good example earlier of that aha moment that a parent had. Can you share that? Yeah. We had been working together for a little bit and they had asked when we were gonna start working and when we were gonna stop playing. And I was like, wait a second. We are always gonna be playing and working. Those do not necessarily exist separately. They are so intertwined. And then we had a session outside with Arlo and Bubbles and chasing and playing and laughing and so much fun. And then they came inside and said, wow, they had a lot of really good language today. They said a lot of really great things and I was like, yes, that that is what what we're talking about. That's really neat to be able to see it. So it's like you're facilitating it, but then you're also saying, look what you can do at home. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I think that's why it's so important to have families involved in the therapy sessions. Mm-hmm. Because it is a hard thing. To explain like you mm-hmm. You have to go through those first few sessions and see it with your own eyes to really understand oh, this is how I can work on these language goals in play. Mm-hmm. So what is one thing you would want people to know about animal assisted therapy? what's one takeaway that you would want them to have from this podcast? I would say wherever you are and however you are, we are ready to meet you with nothing but love. And that is so cheesy, but we truly will. there is such a variety in how it can look with Arlo and I, and so I want people to never feel like there are prerequisites for animal assisted therapy. You don't have to be able to sit still and do X task for X amount of minutes, and you don't have to not cry for this amount of time. What? Wherever you are, however you are, we'll be there. was there anything that surprised you during this process of going through training with Arlo and getting him up to speed and using him in therapy sessions? It has taken a little bit of practice to juggle the different aspects of supporting the child that I'm with and their goals, their regulation, and how they're doing in a session, as well as how Arlo's doing and what his regulation and how his tolerance of things are, and how we can still. Incorporate everyone into this thing or remove Arlo from something or transition to other things has been practiced. But it's been good. And I love that you early on had, shown me documentation that you were gonna give out to families and it talked about how Arlo has his own opinions too. And we have to be respectful of how Arlo is feeling in a session, and we're never gonna make him play or make him do something and we're gonna respect his wishes too. And I just think that's so cool. Yeah. I think that has had a lot of opportunity for language and learning as well with kids to be able to talk about, oh, yep, Arlo ran under the trampoline. Arlo's body needs a break right now. Nice. This is too much for Arlo. What a great lesson. Arlo took his toy into the corner to play by himself. He's all done with fetch right now, or different things like that. So to be able to label. Those experiences for children too, that maybe is harder to comprehend or less interesting when we're talking about a sibling or we're talking about a parent and what a great model for them, you know? Mm-hmm. To learn that, oh, and I'm overwhelmed. This is something I can do that's gonna help my body. Absolutely. In Arlo's first couple of weeks here at the clinic, I remember you were making sure that he got his nap in because he's so socially motivated that he will give 110% when he's with kids. But it does drain him. Mm-hmm. And so he wants to be, and you're like, he could be with everybody the full eight, nine hours that you're here. Mm-hmm. But he's still young and he still needs his nap. And so you're like, it's time to nap. Come on Arlo, so that you can come back at four and play with my friends. And I was just. Yeah, he is like, he, he would push too hard because he's so socially motivated. Mm-hmm. But you're like, I need to take care of you now and this will be good for you. So, yeah. How have parents been with Arlo in the session? What's the response you've gotten from parents? I think every parent that has been with him has loved him. I. I feel like I need to start an ongoing list of all the people that might run away with Arlo, and who I would go check in with to see if, if they have him, but starting with the staff. Yes, yes. No, but in all seriousness, I think everyone's had great experiences with him and are seeing the power of the presence that he brings. So as parents are learning about, animal assisted therapy. teams, I know that I usually get a lot of questions about, more like emotional assistance dogs or therapy dogs for, for children, autistic children or neurodivergent children. And is that something through alliance that they have or is that only training therapists? I believe that would be a separate path to, to really specialize in on the needs of the person that. The dog would be with, so like the emotional support animal is different from the animal assisted therapy, which is different from the, what do you call it? Service, the service dogs. Mm-hmm. So that's different than that. The, so there's d there's different certifications, different needs. Mm-hmm. They're, they're providing for different needs. Okay. Yes. But I was just wondering if you get a lot of those questions then, it's like, well, we're defining a role here and then this is a different role and. this is where you can go to try to find stuff out about that. Yep, yep. And we talk about that Arlo has his role here and that if they wanted to pursue an animal in their world about some of the different things that they would wanna look for, and there is benefit in kind of all three of those groups, if you will, between emotional support, animal therapy, animal, and a service animal. And. With Arlo being in that emotional support animal and therapy animal realm, he's got those. But I always wanna make sure that I'm clarifying that he is not a service dog and that those are separate. I think we did tell you that we usually always ask, what is your favorite toy currently, or go-to therapy activity that you're enjoying with the clients right now? Without a doubt, bubbles. Oh, they're so good. That was always my first one too. I mean, they're quiet. It's fun, visual play, slow moving models, regulating deep breaths. Just so many, so many awesome things. You just can't go wrong with bubbles. Well, unless you give the, the tub to the child. Yes. Lemme have to be careful. Shout out to whoever made the nons spillable bubble. Yes. Those are awesome. Yes. Tamara, do you have another one for today? A go-to item? I've been really enjoying lately. Let's see if I get this right. A Hogan sphere. I think that's what it's called. Ooh. But it's an expanding ball that is all connected with our little articulating hinges so that it starts really small and then if you pull it apart, it gets really big. And so we do big, and it can be really surprising. And then small, we can spin it, we can stick it your arm in it, or throw toys in it. We can put it on our heads. And so it's been really entertaining for kids that are working on descriptive language or want that predictable sequence where we get big and small and then we, and then it's like ready, set, and then big. And there was a one client that I had that every time it got big. He made the most huge surprised gesture, flapped his little hands and was just like, yes, so surprised, but it's gonna happen again, right? I'm like, yeah. And so we'd give him that. So it was actually a regulation thing because he gets so excited, but then we calmed down and it was. Are we ready for it again? And, and then it became fun rather than a true startle. And that was really exciting. That's awesome. So he's, he's learning how to regulate those emotions when he gets really excited, he, how to bring it back down. Mm-hmm. Fun. One that I, that just comes to the top of my head right now is pretend. Play with a little stuffed animal to talk about. daily activities you can do, emotions you can do. States of being. So, you know, here's our little bear. Oh my gosh, he's tired, he's yawning. What should we do? Oh, he needs a nap. He's tired. Where should we put him? And then you find the bed and the blanket and whatever, and you get quiet and whatever vocabulary you wanna work on with that. And then. oh no, he woke up. Oh no, he's still tired, and you can go through it all again. And then that's really fun and silly and they think, that's really cool. Then you get to really reinforce that vocabulary that you just worked on and then talk through oh, what woke him up this time? Oh, it was the dog. Well, okay, this time, the doorbell. Oh, no. so bringing in other components of things that you might see around the house to, work on that language goal. Mm-hmm. I love the silly play. I love the, when things go wrong. That sounds really bad, but, you know, what's the other word for that? The, the unexpected. The unexpected what? I love the problem solving. That'd be the best way to say it. Yeah. I love the problem solving. That sounds less scary. Yeah. Alright, well, Annika, it has been so wonderful chatting with you and learning more about your background and about your journey with Arlo, and we look forward to many more years of collaborating with you. Yes, I do not plan on going anywhere anytime soon, and I don't think Arlo does either. Good, good, good. Alright, thanks. Thank you. That wraps up this episode of Hear Me Out. Thanks so much for listening. Be sure to subscribe, share the podcast with others, and join us next time as we continue learning from the professionals, parents and donors who make this work possible and celebrate the amazing kids we serve. To learn more about the Masonic Children's Clinic or to support our mission of providing free speech, language and hearing services, visit our website and consider making a donation. Every gift helps us give children the voice they deserve. Visit us at masonic children's clinic.org.