R.E.A.D. Dogs Minnesota

According to a pilot study published by the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, a group of sec­ond-graders who read aloud to a dog experienced a slight gain in their reading ability and attitude toward reading, while another group of second-graders who were paired up with veterinary school volunteers (all adults) experienced a decrease on both measures.

Other findings:
* No second-grade readers who were paired up with canine-­counterparts left the group, while one third of those readers paired up with humans, failed to complete the study.
* Reading to a dog is a great way to build confidence and reading skills in a child. The study found the lowest level of stress for a child was when he was reading to a dog, while the highest level was when reading to one of his peers.

Click here to read the full article on how reading to dogs helps kids

"Preliminary results show children who read to dogs are progressing three times faster in words per minute read then their counterparts in control groups without dogs."  Click here to read more about how Dogs Unleash Elementary Students' Reading Skills.

Note: R.E.A.D. program results are beyond anecdotal; see the R.E.A.D. Headquarters' website for a few of the document results.

_Preschool-aged children with disabilities can improve their learning through animal-assisted therapy, according to speech pathologist Dr. Sheila Bernstein.  

The article mentions a few results:

• Four out of five children showed increased number and complexity of utterances and greater use/variety of speech acts in the dog condition.
  
• One child stated, that he was afraid of the dog, but then went on to explain in detail, to the dog, why he was afraid.”Preschool-aged children with disabilities can improve their learning through animal-assisted therapy, according to speech pathologist Dr. Sheila Bernstein.

Click here to read the article.


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