10/15/2026
🐾 Exciting News! Meet Indi, Our Newest Team Member! 🐾
Dear Southeast Little Learners Families,
We are so excited to share that we will soon be welcoming a very special new member to our Southeast Little Learners team — Indi, our therapy dog! 🐶❤️
Over the next few weeks, we will begin thoughtfully introducing Indi into our classrooms and daily activities. Indi comes to us through Hearts of Gold Legacy Canines, where she has received specialized training and preparation for working with people, including young children. Her gentle personality, calm temperament, and love for children make her a wonderful addition to our learning environment!
Research has shown promising benefits of incorporating trained therapy dogs into pediatric and educational settings, including supporting emotional regulation, encouraging communication and social interaction, building confidence, and fostering empathy and compassion.
Our goal is to provide children with another meaningful opportunity to learn, grow, and develop important life skills in a safe, nurturing, and engaging environment.
🐾 What Will Indi's Role Be at Southeast Little Learners?
Indi will serve as a therapy dog and supportive member of our educational team, helping us create positive, engaging, and developmentally meaningful experiences for the children in our care.
Unlike a service dog, which is trained to perform specific tasks for an individual with a disability, a therapy dog provides comfort, companionship, and opportunities for positive interaction with multiple individuals in supervised settings.
Indi's role will be to support our existing educational and developmental programming, not to replace teachers, therapists, or traditional instruction.
As she gradually becomes part of our daily routines, Indi may participate in structured activities designed to encourage communication, emotional regulation, social interaction, empathy, and confidence. These may include storytime, practicing gentle interactions, following simple directions, learning about animal care, and participating in social-emotional learning activities.
For children who receive speech, occupational, or behavioral therapy services, Indi may also be incorporated into developmentally appropriate activities when clinically appropriate and supervised by the responsible professional.
Most importantly, Indi is not here simply as a classroom pet. Her presence is intended to provide purposeful, supervised opportunities that complement our commitment to supporting the whole child — socially, emotionally, and developmentally.
All interactions will be carefully supervised, and children will never be required to interact with Indi. We will respect each child's comfort level, individual needs, and family preferences.
We are excited to see the meaningful connections and learning opportunities Indi may bring to our Little Learners community! 💛
What does this mean for your child?
Indi will gradually be incorporated into select classroom activities, storytime, social-emotional learning opportunities, and supervised interactions. All activities will be age-appropriate, carefully supervised, and respectful of each child's individual comfort level. No child will ever be required to interact with Indi.
We also recognize that every family has different preferences, and we want to respect those choices!
📄 Important Parent Information:
In the coming days, we will be sending home a printed informational letter and parent opt-out form explaining Indi's role, her training, the developmental benefits of therapy dogs, and the safety precautions we will have in place.
Families who do not wish for their child to participate in activities involving Indi will have the opportunity to complete and return the opt-out form before her introduction into classroom activities. Families who are comfortable with their child participating will not need to return the form, subject to applicable childcare licensing requirements.
We are incredibly excited about the positive experiences Indi can bring to our classrooms and look forward to sharing this next chapter with our Little Learners families!
Thank you for continuing to trust us with your little ones and for supporting our commitment to creating an environment.
The Southeast Little Learners Team
