New breed of teachers' pets

Focus on instruction needed
It’s hard to measure how much the program’s four English-language learners are helped by reading to dogs. Officials are hoping to collect such data, just as national coordinators of the READ effort hope more research will win over skeptics.

Catherine Snow, an expert on childhood literacy development at Harvard University, said anything that helps poor readers find enjoyment in books is good — but isn’t enough on its own.

“If the kids are freaked out about being corrected, and this gets them over the hump, then fine,” Snow said about reading to dogs. “But if they need to be guided to attend more carefully to the words and the way you sound out those letters, and all this does is give them a respite, then it really isn’t going to help reading at all. They need that instruction.”

The students at Washington Grove get a heavy dose of teaching in vocabulary and comprehension, said Van de Poll. But reading to dogs is pure enjoyment, because the animal can’t quiz the child with, “Oh! What did you read there? Can you read that again?”

Not just any dog will do. To be a therapy animal, dogs are screened to ensure they have the right skills, temperament, health and cleanliness. Then, to be a reading assistance dog, they must prove they can handle the commotion of a school environment.

Handlers, too, must go through training with their pets. The therapy teams are volunteers, supported by donations, which means there are no direct costs to schools.

Said Washington Grove’s Brake: “We have 370 children here, and I’d love to have all 370 of my children reading with a dog.”

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