Dogs help children develop reading culture

He chose a book, sat down on the library rug and explained to Tavish, his dog, that he was going to read him a mystery about a hidden treasure.

Tavish, never one to turn down a good story, wagged his short red tail and put his head on Sean Sullivan’s knee.

On the other side of the room, tucked into the back of the children’s section of the library in US, Jonathan Mendez was reading with a Spanish accent to a black Portuguese dog named Skipper.

A tiny dog sat up in another corner as a girl read to him about an alligator.

“If you’re reading aloud in school to a whole class, you might be nervous,” said Sean, eight. “But the dogs are really here to listen.”

A growing number of libraries and some schools in the US are inviting volunteers to bring their dogs in to help children learn, hoping the pets will calm children who are struggling, excite those who are bored, and help kids equate reading with fun.

At most libraries in the US, especially in  Washington DC, there is usually a waiting list for “Paws to Read,” with children clutching books outside the room hoping to get a turn.

Some had learning disabilities, and their parents wanted them to practice in a non-judgmental place. Some were learning English and liked reading without having their pronunciation corrected with every word. Some were shy about speaking up in class. And some, like Sean and his sister Mary, love reading and had been looking forward all week to reading to Tavish.

Good things

“They have so much fun,” librarian Ginny Rawls said. “The kids just light up. It’s really a wonderful programme. I can’t say enough good things about it.”

It took a while for Cynthia Power – a teacher and a volunteer with People Animals Love, a nonprofit group that brings well-mannered, friendly dogs to nursing homes and other places – to get programmes started in libraries.

She has heard skeptics say: “This is all we need – people teaching their children to read by reading to a dog.” But it’s not about teaching at all, she said.

“Children never get a chance to read without someone telling them they mispronounced a word or skipped part of the story,” Power said. “We don’t give children that chance to just enjoy reading.”

Marcia Invernizzi, a reading education professor at University of Virginia, said reading to dogs won’t by itself make a child a better reader. But she liked the idea of motivating children, and she noted several potential benefits.

Not least, reading aloud is crucial for beginning readers, she said.

–Washington Post