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What is Pet-Assisted Literacy Training?

Remy Reads is an educational service organization where we provide a trained reading assistance dog along with a human facilitator to support reading education. What, a dog reading? No the dog doesn't read (you would have seen us on TV by now if that were so), but Remy's presence does help the learner practice his or her reading. Remy Reads exploits the natural pet-human bond. The mere presence of pets in a therapeutic setting has been shown to lower blood pressure, lower anxiety and boost self-esteem.

The way a session works is that a student, Remy and myself, acting as a facilitator, work together in an area separate from the classroom. The student is given a choice of books to read (usually starting with animal-related books) and reads aloud while being encouraged to interact with Remy as he or she chooses. Some may choose to pet her, or keep a hand on her, or even a toe. When the student stumbles over a word I step in and say "Remy didn't understand, could you repeat that?" Or I might say "Remy doesn't know what that word means, could you tell her?" This diverts the attention from the student, and places it on Remy. The student then doens't feel so "in the spotlight" and can feel free to learn.

While there are many programs trying to address illiteracy, Remy Reads has a few advantages. For improvement in reading ability there is no substitute for practice; studies have shown that an hour a day of reading by oneself is what is needed to improve a student's reading ability. Introducing a pet-partner team to a program of reading improvement helps to alleviate the stress a struggling student feels while reading aloud and practicing his reading skill. A student also starts to look forward to his or her "doggie time;" turning a reluctant student into an eager student.

Prior pilot programs have shown that the eagerness students show toward their reading time spills over to the entire day, and eventually to school in general. Thursdays become "Remy Day" and students look forward to the start of school. Students are aware that the doggie takes a bath, brushes her teeth and gets ready to come to school. Students begin to emulate these actions and personal habits improve. Last, but not least, Remy Reads re-introduces the pleasure in reading to an at-risk population.

In a world of increasingly technological solutions, what a basic, holistic approach to learning.