A program born in the United States
Reading alongside a dog could help children progress in reading. This is the observation made by Gill Johnson, lecturer in education at the University of Nottingham, in an article devoted to this subject published on The Conversation.
According to the British academic, dogs would be a great help for children who have difficulty learning to read by giving them enough self-confidence and motivation to do so.
This idea was born in the United States in 1999 as part of a program called READ, the acronym for "Reading Education Assistance Dogs" which can be translated as "Assistance Dogs to learning to read”.It then expanded to other countries such as the UK with a similar program called “Bark and Read”.
A dog to restore self-confidence
The principle of these programs couldn't be simpler. Children are simply asked to “read to dogs”. By their mere presence, animals have the effect of reassuring and relaxing children and thus reducing any form of pressure related to the exercise of reading. Across the Channel, one of the most popular canine figures in this program is Danny, a greyhound who is regularly talked about in the media for being a READing dog particularly appreciated by children.
And for good reason: dogs are "a reassuring and benevolent public, which will not flinch in the event of an error" .
A real plus to help children who have difficulty learning to read.Thanks to dogs, they can thus restore their self-confidence and discover the pleasure of reading without fear of being judged or interrupted by negative reactions or unpleasant remarks from their teacher.
With the help of these assistance dogs, Gill Johnson thinks that we can thus create an environment conducive to reading for the child which would make it possible to lay the foundations for other activities aimed at always help children progress in this learning while improving their well-being and their behavior, like a virtuous circle.
When will a stuffed animal in each classroom?