For the past three semesters, Clancy Elementary School has had friendly canines roaming its halls. But the dogs aren’t there for the cafeteria food; they’re there to read! Or rather, to be read to.
The dogs are key players in the Reading Education Assistance Program (R.E.A.D), which Clancy Elementary has been offering to its third graders. R.E.A.D is a program offered free to schools through Intermountain Therapy Animals, a non-profit based in Salt Lake City, Utah with a branch in Helena. The idea: The four-legged animals can help kids get past the emotional barriers to literacy.
In the R.E.A.D program, a registered therapy dog and its owner volunteer as a team and encourage children in the designated classroom to read to the animal. The dogs are deployed specifically in schools to help young children — usually third graders — build their confidence and excitement for reading, as well as their reading fluency.
Jolene Edwards, Title I teacher and reading specialist at Clancy Elementary came across the R.E.A.D program at a library demonstration in Helena in October 2017. She proposed the idea to Clancy’s school board, which accepted the plan.
The program launched in January, 2018 with one dog and volunteer duo visiting Clancy once a week. Linda Stangland, and her golden retriever, Zoey, both from the Helena area, were specially trained; and Zoey was vetted before being licensed as a therapy dog to ensure she had an even temperament.
Clancy’s third-grade teachers started with a small group of students with lower reading levels and confidence. Edwards worked out the schedule so that, for one class period a week, four students could have 15 minutes of individualized time reading to Zoey, with Stangland nearby.
Stangland said that when students read to Zoey, they feel more confident and free to read without fear of making a mistake. “I don’t correct them,” she said.
Edwards said that instead of pointing out a pronunciation mistake or correcting a child while they’re reading, she uses the dog to make the guidance more fun. For example, she might say something like “Zoey didn’t hear that, can you read it again?”
These days, Clancy’s program is open to all third graders. Kids not only receive visits from Zoey and Linda, but from a second team. As before, the dogs come one class period a week, usually on Fridays, and each student gets 15 minutes of individual time reading to a dog. This semester, 16 kids regularly participated in the program, with each having a session every other week.
Edwards said that the success of the program is borne out by her students’ heightened reading confidence and in improved scores in tests administered to evaluate reading levels. In a document written in May, Edwards reported that the program’s impact has been reflected in the attitudes of the students themselves. “One of my greatest joys is when one of these young readers says, “Oh, can I read just one more page?” “I just know Zoey is going to love this new story I’ll be reading to her today!’”
“It’s a great program,” said Shelley Stewart, one of the third grade teachers at Clancy Elementary.
So far, Clancy’s R.E.A.D program has served only third graders. Edwards said this is because third grade is a critical year when students need to gain confidence and fluency in their reading to be prepared for the reading comprehension they’ll take on in fourth grade.
According to Edwards, both of Clancy’s third grade teachers and the school board support the program, and that the school is planning to bring the dogs back next year.
