Learning to read? Try talking to a dog

[Kadie]

Learning to read? Try talking to a dog
By Rachel Rodriguez, CNN

October 24, 2009 4:50 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Meet Bailey. She's a registered therapy dog, but you won't find her in hospitals or nursing homes. Instead, Bailey makes weekly visits to libraries and schools. She sits quietly or snuggles up to kids as they read her a book. And no, she's not napping, and the kids don't have treats in their pockets. She's actually helping these children learn to read.

It sounds implausible. After all, dogs can't read. How could they possibly help someone learn a skill that they themselves can't grasp? But it's a growing trend, and it seems to be working.

The philosophy is simple. Children who are just learning to read often feel judged or intimidated by classmates and adults. But reading to a dog isn't so scary. It won't judge, it won't get impatient, it won't laugh or correct if the child makes a mistake. In a nutshell, dogs are simply excellent listeners. And for shy kids or slow readers, that can make all the difference.

Kathy Klotz is executive director of Intermountain Therapy Animals, which runs a nationwide program called R.E.A.D. -- Reading Education Assistance Dogs. She says there's another benefit of reading to the dogs that she didn't anticipate: confidence.

"A factor that we never planned for, that turned out to be really important, is that the child feels like they're letting the dog understand the story," she says. "They get to be the teacher, the storyteller, the one who knows more than the dog for a change. ...They just blossom when they get to be the one who knows more than the dog."

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/10/24/dogs.irpt/index.html?section=cnn_latest

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. How about reading to a cat?

[Lars39]

Cats would yawn and say, "I've already read that."

[vadawg]

2. hell no, they are lil fuckers who will correct your grammar and spelling

:)

[ZombieHorde]

4. A cat would probably wonder off. nt

[Kadie]

5. My daughter reads to our cat.

The cat is very mellow and will just lay there and listen. It is very cute.

[rcrush]

3. You arent supposed to correct the child if they make a mistake reading?

"It won't judge, it won't get impatient, it won't laugh or correct if the child makes a mistake."

Sure the laughing at the kid doesn't help but shouldn't someone tell them if they are not pronouncing a word correctly?

[Kadie]

6. What I have learned,

from having my kids through speech therapy, is that you just repeat the word correctly. Don't judge, or say that they are saying it wrong. Just re-inforce the correct pronunciation.

[ZombieHorde]

7. There is a time for correcting and a time for backing off.

Teaching kids to enjoy reading is just as important, or more important, than teaching kids to read correctly. If they enjoy reading, they will become good readers.

For example: if you are all snuggled up reading in bed at night, and you come across a word you don't know, you may skip it, but if you were reading in your living room in the middle of the day, you would probably look up the word.

[vadawg]

10. when i learned to read i hated it, thought it was teh biggest waste of time imaginable

but looking back now it was probuably the best gift my parents ever gave me. though i got to say i hated them at teh time...

[roody]

9. It is a balancing act between grabbing a teaching moment

and letting them enjoy their books.

[sandnsea]

11. Only if it's necessary to the story

Otherwise, they'll figure it out eventually. The time to teach word pronunciation and decoding is when you're focused on that, playing hangman or something.

[ZombieHorde]

8. I am not an animal person, but dogs seem really cool. nt

[knitter4democracy]

12. They do this at my children's school: I've seen it work.

It's worked really well for my son, and I've seen some of his classmates make amazing strides since they started up the program--kids whom I helped and tutored in reading. I could always tell which weeks the reading dog had been there.