Therapy dogs help Aurora School students find their voice
Wednesday is a favourite day of the week at Aurora School — and it’s not hard to see why.
That’s the day Dobby, the school’s much-loved therapy dog, arrives to greet children at the door with a wagging tail and a calm, friendly presence. For many of the young students who are deaf, hard of hearing or deafblind, Dobby is much more than a furry friend — he’s an important part of their language-learning journey.
Aurora School provides a rich bilingual environment where Auslan and English are used every day. The school supports children aged 3 to 6 years, many of whom experience communication challenges.
According to the school's audiologist and trained therapy dog handler Jude Harper, Dobby and his quieter sister, Winky — both named after house-elves from the Harry Potter series — have become powerful motivators for communication and language development.
The school successfully applied for a Victorian Department of Education Animal-assisted Wellbeing and Engagement Program grant, enabling Jude’s dogs to be trained and accredited as therapy dogs to support the school’s 38 students.
Whether students are signing, using spoken language or a combination of both, interactions with Dobby and Winky create natural opportunities to communicate.
‘The children are very motivated to use language when it involves the dogs, because that’s what they want to talk about,’ Jude says.
‘A child who loves the dogs might use Auslan to sign for the YouTube video 'Dog Love’, another child might draw a picture of an experience with the dog, while another might use gestures to communicate, “Dog stay over there — I only want to look, not touch”.’
The dogs are incorporated into structured learning activities. Most activities are conducted with one dog and one child at time. One popular exercise involves a child listening for a bell before throwing a ball for the dog — usually Dobby.
‘This type of activity requires a child to listen for, process and respond to a sound, then the child is immediately rewarded by seeing the dog fetch the ball,’ she says.
Building language skills through play
Using the dogs in language-based activities helps to build and extend a child's expressive language in ways that feel natural, fun and meaningful.
‘For example, if a child wants to play ball with Dobby, they might verbalise that or they might put two signs together for “throw ball”. We can then build on that language, encouraging more complex phrases such as “throw orange ball”.’
The dogs also provide opportunities to develop richer sentence structures and vocabulary.
‘A child might describe the therapy dog as “the brown, furry dog”, they might ask “Can I pat the dog?” or they might say “There are two dogs”, helping them practise adjectives, questions and plurals,’ Jude explains.
Supporting social and emotional development
The dogs also help children develop emotional literacy by encouraging conversations about feelings and behaviours. Students learn to recognise cues, such as a wagging tail means the dog is happy or a resting dog means it is tired.
The dogs also help to reinforce positive social behaviours, such as ‘We use gentle hands at school — our dogs love gentle pats,’ is one example staff use to encourage respectful interactions, along with the Auslan sign for ‘gentle’.
Interacting with the dogs helps children practise skills that can sometimes be challenging, including sitting calmly, maintaining attention, taking turns, and waiting patiently for the dogs to come to them.
A calming presence
The dogs provide valuable emotional support throughout the school day.
As the more outgoing of the pair, Dobby enjoys joining group activities and can offer reassurance and encouragement to children who find transitions between activities and learning spaces difficult, helping them move more confidently through their day. Winky, meanwhile, is happiest sitting quietly alongside a child who needs a calm companion.
‘Both dogs support emotional regulation for children experiencing big feelings,’ Jude says.
‘As the extrovert, Dobby loves to be part of the group and is right at home walking with the children between learning spaces. Children who are dysregulated can calm themselves by patting the dog — Winky loves this.’
Dobby and Winky have become treasured members of the Aurora School community,
Their presence at the school, and their unconditional and non-judgemental support, helps reduce stress, improve wellbeing and encourage greater participation in classroom activities.
Families have noticed positive changes, with children becoming more willing to communicate, sign and engage with others. Teachers also enjoy having the dogs onboard.
‘The staff love the dogs, and they also look forward to Wednesday,’ Jude says with a smile.
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