The A4A program was super busy for the Summer of 2024! We were able to increase the number of diagnostic evaluations performed through our partnership with the Psychology department. We absolutely loved having our Psych intern this summer! Likewise, we worked with 2 DNP students on a team project to enhance cultural connectedness among providers…Continue Reading It was a great Summer!

We started offering EMDR therapy in our AAT sessions to eligible participants in June 2024. Participants sort themselves into the house from Harry Potter that exemplifies the characteristic they want to emulate as we work through anxiety-producing events with Patches the Niffler. Gryffin lays right beside participants during the session, always ready to give a…Continue Reading EMDR and AAT: Two therapies that go hand in hand

Many people ask me what Gryffin does. It is the most asked question I get. The most important aspect of Gryffin’s work that I want people to understand is Gryffin is trained to interact with autistic children, not just sit beside them. He knows over 50 commands that I purposefully chose because they would promote…Continue Reading A Typical Day for AAT

We were honored to publish our first AAT manuscript in the Nurse Practitioner’s special pediatric edition in March 2024. We presented a case study of one of our AAT participants from the second Gryffin study. The reference for this article is listed on our Publications page under Resources….Continue Reading We’ve published our first AAT manuscript!

We realized we needed to investigate if human-animal interaction and bonding was different among ages, developmental stage, gender, ethnicity, intellectual ability, and verbality. We completed the first study in verbality in December 2023. Student researchers from Team HAI coded human and animal behavior occurring during AAT sessions using two different ethograms. The results were promising…Continue Reading AAT and Verbality Study

The first two Gryffin studies successfully demonstrated improvement in both prosocial behavior and emotional regulation within and apart from AAT sessions. We were so excited to think this type of AAT could be utilized to achieve similar results shown between service dogs and their owner with ASD. However, we had to prove the results were…Continue Reading The Snuffles Study

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing hosted its 2nd annual Nursing Science Day on March 7, 2024. The symposium topic was The State of the Science for Animal-Assisted Therapy: Implications for Research, Education, and Practice Across the Healthcare Continuum. We were honored to host incredible speakers including Kyria Henry from Paws4People, Dr. Morgan Yordy from…Continue Reading Nursing Science Day 2024

These girls may never know the impact of their work on the lives of the children referred to our program and beyond. They were in this from the very beginning, and dedicated countless hours to training Gryffin, coding behavior, and analyzing data. We are so proud of them and all they have accomplished with Gryffin…Continue Reading Best wishes, Seniors 2023!

Honors student Allison Reichel was selected for the Professional Student Nurse Extern Summer 2023 Program of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Congratulations, Ally! We are so proud of you!…Continue Reading Congrats, Ally

Nursing Honors students presented their research findings regarding the Gryffin Project at the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP) annual national conference in Orlando, Florida, on March 15, 2023. Brooke Weaver, Emily Grant, Emily Meade, Jewel Hernandez and Madelyn Talbert discussed their work as Gryffin’s initial trainers, teaching him foundational concepts for therapy and…Continue Reading EMSON Honors Students Present at the NAPNAP 2023 National Conference