Man’s best friend or teacher? A new learning program involving dogs is helping Maritime children develop their reading skills.
The program’s called ‘See Spot Read’ and it’s being offered by St. John Ambulance as a part of their therapy dog program.
The library at Sackville Height Elementary seems like a typically quiet place, but if you listen closely you might hear the pitter and patter of Oscar’s paws.
Oscar’s a therapy dog and now the school’s newest teacher. The pooch helps children like third grade student Lily who says reading can be boring sometimes.
“He’s really fluffy and he’s like one of the favourite dogs that I like,” says Lily.
St. John Ambulance CEO Steven Gaetz says the kids in the program read to the dogs with the goal of teaching their furry friend.
"When the dog makes a mistake, the handler will ask the student to take the dog back to that word they seem to of struggled with because the dog needs to relearn that word," says Gaetz.
The program launched in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island this year, but Gaetz says they’ve seen success in other parts of the country.
"We’ve seen kids grow to a two grade reading comprehension enhancement in over a 12 week period," he says.
Volunteers Lynn Philpitt and Don Leblanc say they’ve witnessed the program’s benefits firsthand and believe it’s important to increase social skills and confidence.
"The ones that are reading with him, they just seem to be empowered by the fact that he's there and they're getting a chance to read to the dog,” says Philpitt.
"I’ve seen children that are quite shy, they come in and they're quite at ease at reading to the dog and as each week goes by if we're working with the same student,” says LeBlanc. “You can see the confidence build and they're looking forward to it."
St. John Ambulance says it’s is looking forward to training more volunteers and therapy dogs to reach other schools and students.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Jayson Baxter.
