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Students practice reading with dogs By RYAN SCOTT OTTNEY, Portsmouth Daily Times PDT Staff Writer WEST PORTSMOUTH — Shy children are sometimes nervous reading in public. At Portsmouth West Elementary, Staci Sammons and Little Bear from Tail Waggin’ Tutors are teaching young readers the confidence they need for stronger reading skills. Tail Waggin’ Tutors is a program of Therapy Dogs International (TDI); a volunteer group from Flanders, N.J., organized to provide qualified handlers and therapy dogs for visitation in a variety of facilities, such as hospitals and nursing homes. The Tail Waggin’ Tutors program brings therapy dogs into the classroom as stand-in audience for children to read aloud, to teach them confidence and encourage public speaking. “You have a lot of kids that are reluctant to read in front of students, so they read in front of the dog here. The more they read each day, it betters their fluency skills,” said Chris Rapp, after school program coordinator at Portsmouth West School District. The program is offered to West Elementary students in grade 2-4, Monday through Thursday. “Last week we were up to 26 in a room at one time, and we had to take some out and now they have to take turns. They all just love reading to him,” Rapp said. “Kids who were reluctant to read, they want to come and read now.” According to the Southern Ohio All Breeds Dog Club, the service is made available to the school and to the Portsmouth Public Library, through a library reading program using therapy dogs from the All Breeds Dog Club. At Portsmouth West Elementary, Staci Sammons brought her 2-year-old English mastiff therapy dog, Little Bear, to meet students. “Therapy Dogs International tests your dog to make sure he’s a good dog. Then they can go into nursing homes, libraries, schools, and Little Bear does that. He’s in all three right now,” Sammons said. She said Little bear loves the children, and the kids are great with him. Sammons and Little Bear also visit the Portsmouth Public Library for children to read to every Saturday in November, from 2 to 4 p.m. “The therapy dogs have been trained to be calm and still, and it’s a chance for the kids to get to practice their reading with somebody that isn’t going to get impatient or judge them for having trouble,” said Portsmouth Library Publicity Director Grace Peach. RYAN SCOTT OTTNEY can be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 235, or rottney@heartlandpublications.com. |
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