Animal assisted therapy: Riding high

Animal therapy can bring much joy to children with special needs, as well as help to improve physical co-ordination, writes Jackie Cosh Six-year-old Jack reaches out and strokes the dog with his left hand. Not an unusual sight, except that following an illness at the age of four, Jack's left hand has been paralysed. For Jack, the simple action of petting a dog is a major achievement - more progress than his family had ever dared wish for....