Pet Salon Telehealth Activity

In the past few years, I’ve noticed that simple online games with specific steps can help kids who struggle with following directions, focusing, and complying with requests. Basically, they get to practice doing what they’re told with something fun – it’s important skill development.

Does anyone want to study this??

Anyway, Pet Salon (also available here) is one such game. It is very easy to play – you just complete each task as the game tells you to, and you get to groom some cute, animated dogs before styling them and taking their picture.

Puppy in a top hat

There are dozens of similar games with the same outcome and treatment benefits, and you can search for things that have similarities to clients’ interests and preferences. Basically, you want them to have some choices in the game but to need to follow directions in order to progress. The simplicity of the activity prevents them from getting frustrated and lets you focus on the task itself.

Share your screen, and grant your client remote control to play. The game has a set beginning and end (after all the pets have been groomed), but you can have the client only groom one or two if you need to accommodate a shorter attention span.

The easiest way to demonstrate this game is to just show you, so I made a video. Let me know what you think!

Walkthrough

Published by Dr Marschall

Dr. Amy Marschall received her Psy.D. from the University of Hartford in September 2015. She completed her internship at the National Psychology Training Consortium with specializations in assessment and rural mental health. Currently, she specializes in trauma-informed and neurodiversity-affirming care, and she is certified in telemental health. Dr. Marschall runs a private practice, RMH Therapy, where she provides individual and family therapy as well as psychological assessments across the lifespan. Dr. Amy Marschall is an author and professional speaker.

%d bloggers like this: