Tail Wagging Readers (TWR) is a reading program with one major twist. In this program, students do not read with a partner or to a teacher, they read to a certified therapy dog. Many people are very skeptical about these programs when they first hear about them but this type of program has been shown to increase a student's excitement about reading and confidence while reading. This program also helps students become better readers and score higher on language arts tests.
You might be asking yourself, "What's so special about this program?" Students tend to get nervous when asked to read aloud because they know they will be judged on how well or how poorly they read. With a therapy dog, this simply doesn't happen. Dogs won't judge their reading abilities and children know this. This instantly puts students at ease. Reading with a therapy dog allows students to read in a comfortable, safe and judgement-free environment. Another great benefit is that therapy dogs can be read to in any language. It doesn't matter to these four-legged reading buddies if they get read to in English, Spanish, Chinese, or French!
You might be asking yourself, "What's so special about this program?" Students tend to get nervous when asked to read aloud because they know they will be judged on how well or how poorly they read. With a therapy dog, this simply doesn't happen. Dogs won't judge their reading abilities and children know this. This instantly puts students at ease. Reading with a therapy dog allows students to read in a comfortable, safe and judgement-free environment. Another great benefit is that therapy dogs can be read to in any language. It doesn't matter to these four-legged reading buddies if they get read to in English, Spanish, Chinese, or French!
This is the Ottawa therapy dog R.E.A.D. program. It is very similar to Tail Wagging Readers and will give you an idea of what a therapy dog reading program looks like.