Kids find a perfect audience to read to: Dogs

Kids in Utah and Oregon are getting a chance to practice their reading skills on an audience that always pays attention and never criticizes the way they read.

The perfect audience is a dog, preferably one who's sort of a "couch potato."

(For a related story from St. Louis, see sidebar below.)

At weekend library reading programs, kids get to read a book to a dog that has been specially trained to be an attentive audience. The training makes sure the dog likes children, will pay attention and show interest while the kids are reading.

But, they never complain, even if they've heard the same book a number of times.

Sandi Martin of Salt Lake City is the founder of the Reading Education Assistant Dogs (R.E.A.D.) program.

She said, "The ideal dog is one that's comfortable around children, even a lot of children. And they should be a couch potato so that it's okay even if the child lays on them while he or she is reading to them."

Before going to a reading, the dogs even get cleaned up and dressed up for the occasion. Each dog gets a special anti-dandruff shampoo and wears special red bandannas. Their adult handlers that come along also have special red T-shirts.

Martin is a nurse and has used animals in therapy with children who have medical problems. "We know how animals can benefit medically challenged patients," Martin said.

Martin said, "A couple years ago, I woke up one night at 2 a.m. with the idea that animals also could help kids with their reading. Reading-challenged kids have many of the same emotional problems as do medically-challenged patients."

She made an appointment at the Salt Lake City Public Library to explain her idea. She offered herself and her Portuguese water dog named Olivia as a "listener."

Dana Tumpowsky was the library's community relations manager. After Martin explained what she had in mind, Tumpowsky said she thought, "This woman's crazy."

But, Tumpowsky was soon convinced.

The first reading-to-dogs sessions were at the city's main library. They involved six therapy dogs, two hours each week for four weeks in a row. Each kid got one dog to read to for up to 30 minutes.

Now, the main library and all five branches have what are called "Dog Day Afternoons" programs every Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m.

The program has been getting national attention. Last month, the Wall Street Journal featured an article about the spread of the program to Oregon. At Gresham, Ore., the Multnomah County Library has adopted the program.

In addition, Martin's program has been used for a 16-month reading test at Bennion Elementary School in Salt Lake City. There, 10 "at risk" kids who all were reading "below level" were given a chance to read one-on-one to a dog for 30 minutes each week.

The adult dog handler helps to check on the kids' ability to pronounce words or to comprehend what they read.

But, Martin said, "When checking on comprehension, the handler will ask, 'Do you think your dog understands that. Tell her what it means.'" When there is a question about what a word means, the handler will ask the child to read the dictionary meaning to the dog.

Martin said, "All the kids made reading progress. And four of the 10 earned Triple A Awards at their school. Those are awards to children to earn top grades in science, math and reading."

In the school program, the kids get an incentive for reading the books. "After a child reads 10 books, they get to pick out a book for themselves. Then, the dog autographs the book with a paw print," Martin said.

But, Martin said her program isn't just for kids with reading problems. She said the idea of reading to a dog can help all kids enjoy reading more.

In the library reading sessions, the kids are encouraged to sit close to the dog and even pet it while reading. The petting seems to act as a natural tranquilizer for high-strung kids.

That close contact by many kids is why it's important that the dog be a "couch potato" who likes to sit quietly and pay attention to the show.

For more about the R.E.A.D. program, you can log on to the Therapy Animals website at www.therapyanimals.org. Then click on to the R.E.A.D. icon on the left aide of the home page.

 

St. Louis has therapy animal programs also St. Louis has a number of programs that use animals as therapy for both kids and adults. There's one program where handicapped kids are given horseback rides. But, the local program closest to the Utah reading program involves greyhound dogs. The Rescued Racers organization takes greyhound dogs to libraries and schools. Adults then read books about greyhounds, after which the kids pet and touch the dogs. Leann Forister is the founder of the Rescued Racers program . Her group gets greyhounds after they can no longer race and finds them good homes. She said the greyhounds are ideal house pets because they are patient with kids. But, this program involves adults reading to the kids while the dogs are nearby. For more information about the Rescued Racer program, log on to the website at www.rescuedracers.com.