Featured photo by Bailey Brantingham
Story by Bailey Brantingham
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When most people picture an elementary school classroom, they might see colorful bookshelves or long-division posters. As the education system evolves, a new aspect of learning is being showcased at schools across the state. One that involves wagging tails and four fluffy paws.
Recently, the Tennessee Veterinary Medical Foundation donated $2,000 to middle Tennessee’s Reading Paws program.
The therapy animals are brought into classrooms and libraries to help encourage students to read aloud while having a furry friend to comfort them. The program is designed to help children improve reading and literacy skills with the assistance of a certified therapy animal and handler acting as a “literacy mentor.”
With money raised from private donations, the Tennessee Veterinary Medical Foundation hopes to eliminate any expense barriers for therapy animals and their handlers to participate in these programs.
“One of the barriers that prevents a volunteer and their pet from participating is the expense of training and certification,” said Tennessee Veterinary Medical Foundation President Forrest Reynolds. “Our goal is to raise enough money so that we can remove this barrier. We would love for every school willing to have a Reading Paws team in their school across our state to have one.”
The first to take advantage of this donation was Northfield Elementary School, with a visit from three four-legged friends and their handlers from the Reading Paws team.
Although therapy animals are a fun way to encourage children to read aloud, some parents are concerned about the effectiveness of bringing animals into the classroom. Some insist that they might be a distraction rather than a learning aid and question the legitimacy of a therapy animal reading program.
“For a reading program, the dog is a non-threatening way to get kids to read out loud so that they might absorb the information a little bit better,” said said Rebecca Pyle, president and CEO of Nashville Therapy Pets, a non-profit therapy animal organization. “They’re also more likely to want to read to an animal because they know they can’t read the pages like an adult would. They’re more likely to interact with an animal rather than another person.”
While many remain concerned about the effectiveness of therapy animals in classrooms, research has shown that children reading to dogs in schools have improved literacy skills, gained confidence in their reading and increased their love for reading.
The Tennessee Veterinary Medical Foundation doesn’t plan on stopping in middle Tennessee. The foundation plans on donating to similar programs around the state in order to increase awareness and continue their commitment to the program year after year.
“It is truly a magical thing that happens when watching these students read. In the case of the dogs at Northfield, a student’s anxiety and worry of reading out loud basically disappeared when reading to a dog,” Reynolds said. “As a veterinarian, it excites me to be able to foster and promote the human-animal bond.”
Bailey Brantingham is a contributing writer for MTSU Sidelines.
To contact News Editor Alyssa Williams and Assistant News Editor Zoe Naylor, email newseditor@mtsusidelines.com.
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