Pawsitive Friendships partners with Phoenix Day School for the Deaf
Posted 4/11/22
Phoenix Day School for the Deaf (PDSD), the Phoenix campus of Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, continues growing their partnership with Pawsitive Friendships.
Tosha Tharp-Gaitanis …
You must be a member to read this story.
Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.
Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Need to set up your free e-Newspaper all-access account? click here.
Non-subscribers
Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber.
Register to comment
Click here create a free account for posting comments.
Note that free accounts do not include access to premium content on this site.
I am anchor
COLLABORATION
Pawsitive Friendships partners with Phoenix Day School for the Deaf
Posted
The Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (ASDB) was founded in 1912 – the year of Arizona’s statehood. ASDB serves more than 2,000 children who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, hard of hearing or deafblind from birth to grade 12. ASDB operates two schools for the deaf and one school for the blind, as well as serving students in itinerant settings in the public schools of Arizona. ASDB is dedicated to empowering students with the educational opportunities necessary to succeed in college, career and life.
Phoenix Day School for the Deaf (PDSD), the Phoenix campus of Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, continues growing their partnership with Pawsitive Friendships.
Tosha Tharp-Gaitanis founded Pawsitive Friendships after working with her own child diagnosed with high functioning autism/Asperger’s Syndrome and their family dog. Pawsitive Friendships provides animal-assisted therapy as an integral part of a goal-oriented treatment plan for those with special needs. Its school-based program works with teachers to help the students work on their Individualized Education Program goals in small groups. Aided by the gentle and unconditional love of highly trained animals, Pawsitive Friendships helps students improve physically, socially, and emotionally, as well as other areas of self-regulation and motivation.
Pawsitive Friendships began its eight-week pilot program serving PDSD’s kindergarten classes on March 18 and will continue through May 6. Students have responded well to working with canine friends Jacques, Evelyn, and Scout, with a focus on social skills, taking turns, following directions and self-regulation. On April 8, kindergartners met miniature horse Bella.
As a special addition to the regular program, on Friday, April 15, Jacques the French bulldog will visit the first grade classrooms and all Life Skills classes on campus.
Pawsitive Friendships has 95 therapy teams in Maricopa County and is looking for more so as to serve more schools and classes simultaneously. Those interested in being part of therapy teams can contact Tosha at pawsitivefriendships.org.