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Students improve reading aloud skills with therapy dogs
First-graders at The Lovett School are reading to therapy dogs as part of the Sit Stay Read program.
ATLANTA - The Lovett School, an independent K-12 school in Atlanta, says students are seeing major reading improvements thanks to the help of therapy dogs.
What they're saying:
"Reading out loud is so hard for these kids. Sometimes they try it in class, and they're barely audible," Lower School Librarian Perry Yates said.
She described what staff call the "dog effect," noting that "studies have proven science has shown that the dog effect, that's what we call it, has the biggest impact on first graders."
"The therapy dog provides a warm, comforting presence. It's stress reducing, it's anxiety, reducing everything, every benefit we get from interacting with a pet they get from reading with a pet one on one," she added.
Students say the dogs make reading feel safer and more fun. "They're well-trained dogs. And they won't like rip the pages and bite you," 6-year-old Charli-Monroe Ormsby said.
"They're really fluffy," and "They're really fun to read with. Rather than just reading to my mom," she added.
"They just sit down and look around sometimes when they hear some noises," adding, "I'm always just like, I'm so excited and all that," 7-year-old George Collins explained.
Program leaders say the impact is clear by the end of the school year. Sharon Barrow with Canine Companions, one of the organizations that provides the therapy dogs, said students’ reading skills improve dramatically.
"By the end of the year. It's just a continuous read, and it's just amazing to see the progress," she said.
"We want them excited to read, excited to come to the library," Yates added.
The Source: This is a FOX 5 original report by Kim Leoffler who went to the school to learn about the program.