A new reading enrichment program at a Baltimore County elementary school has literally gone to the dogs.
The eight-week program titled PAWS (Pets Are Wonderful Support), is composed of 31 Logan Elementary School students who have expressed problems reading out loud.
To help put them a ease, PAWS steps in with dog owners and their pets who listen as individual children read to them. The one-hour sessions take place after school and have been lauded as a success, having garnered higher self-esteem and improved grades among students.
“This is the first time it?s been done in Baltimore County,” said Elizabeth Hatton, who jump-started the Logan program in April.
“It has been targeted at second-graders because generally that?s the time when kids with reading problems start losing interest,” she said.
Hatton is a reading specialist and president of the Baltimore County reading council.
She said bringing PAWS to Logan began with an idea on therapy dogs.
“They are currently used to help kids in reading, hospitals, nursing homes and other institutions where therapy dogs are needed,” said Logan, referencing her ties with Therapy Dogs International, a New Jersey-based volunteer organization.
TDI representative Rob Houston said the organization also sponsors a Children Reading to Dogs program that travels to schools, libraries, parks and other public places.
“It provides a great incentive for kids to read,” Houston said. “A lot of times children are embarrassed to read out loud because they stumble over words and fear being laughed at. But a dog is nonjudgmental and the kids don?t end up feeling dumb when they make a mistake.”
Each dog is a certified therapy dog, “which means they have to pass a temperament test to make sure they have a good demeanor and have had all their shots,” Hatton said.
She is looking forward to next year?s program.
“The kids really love it. They are so much more confident with their reading,” she said.
