Kids Reading to Dogs in Libraries
The purpose of a reading to dogs program is to provide children with a comfortable environment to practice their reading skills. In an interview with ABC, Francine Alexander, the chief academic officer for Scholastic, mentions that it is often easier for children to read aloud to dogs than in front of classmates because there is no embarrassment if mistakes occur. In 2010, the University of California-Davis completed a study on reading to dog programs, which suggested that children who read to dogs improved their own reading skills in comparison to children who did not read to dogs, based on the results of the Oral Text Reading for Comprehension Test. The program involved reading to dogs once a week for ten weeks. Children who read to dogs also reported a greater enjoyment of reading than children who did not read to dogs.
