Speech therapy patient forges bond with Compass the Memorial Pet Therapy dog
By Erika Pesantes, Sun Sentinel
MIRAMAR — In a new pediatric unit at Memorial Hospital Miramar, a special golden retriever named Compass is helping a 3-year-old girl find her voice.
The child had trouble closing her mouth and making sounds as a toddler. When a speech pathologist evaluated her, she was missing verbs and consonants in her speech. She pointed at things to communicate.
Now, she strings together words, and when the 5-year-old dog is by her side, the commands roll off her tongue.
She tells him, “Sit.”
“Wait.”
Compass, who serves about three or four children for speech therapy at Memorial Regional Miramar weekly, already is making a difference at the recently opened Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital Therapy Services unit, off Pembroke Road west of Interstate 75.
Each one of Memorial Healthcare System’s six hospitals has a therapy dog assigned to it.
Certain children show marked improvement and blossom with pet therapy, said Rita Galliano, a speech pathologist who began introducing Compass into Valeria’s weekly therapy sessions in recent months.
Such dogs become a motivating tool, and under the guise of play, progress is made. “For kids, being able to take the leading role makes them want to say more,” Galliano said.
