(Geronimo) — Navarro Elementary School is relying on some four-legged friends to help kids learn to read.
Navarro Elementary School has entered a partnership with Canine Classmates, a non-profit organization which pairs young readers with a therapy dog. The reading/tutoring program which focuses on grades first through third was implemented at the beginning of the school year.
Bringing the idea to campus was Kindergarten Teacher Susan Kohl. Kohl says with the support of School Principal Laurel Wilson, she felt the program was exactly what was needed to help students excel.
“Honestly about two years ago, I saw this on Facebook. I’ve got lots of friends that teach in other areas, and I saw some of them posting children reading with the dogs in different classroom settings. So, I reached out to Laurel pre COVID and was interested in trying to implement the program here and then unfortunately, COVID struck and we were not able to go forward with it and so this year, I went back to her and reopened my request, I guess, to start this program and she is the one that knows Donna who has worked in a school before where Laurel was an admin(istrator) and so she is the one that got me in the right direction to get a hold of Donna,” said Kohl.
The Donna that Kohl speaks about is Donna Dishman who oversees the program at Navarro and currently has four of her own dogs in the program.
“Donna comes once a week for a 30-minute session per child and she comes every Tuesday. Right now, we are servicing only seven children with the hope that maybe some community members might reach out to us saying that this is something that they might be interested in and getting in contact with Donna who can do the training with the intent that this might grow next year so we can service more children,” said Kohl.
Kohl says all of Dishman’s dogs are Newfoundland breeds. She says there are five other dogs that also participate in the program as well. She says you can’t help but notice how excited the kids are when it’s their time to read.
“We have a little private room that is set up for the tutoring session and Donna will come in and she has her list of children, and she goes to pick up her first child. The child brings their book with them. It might be their level reader. It might be their library book. It might be their classroom reading book and they come in and the dog is laying on the floor. The child sits right next to the dog. They can lay on the dog, snuggle with the dog and the child will read the book out loud and as the child is reading, Donna will interact with the child and maybe talk about some vocabulary words in there. She might talk about some comprehension questions. It is just really cute. If a child is struggling with a word or a question, she’ll tell them ‘Give the dog a snuggle’ and that is magic that will help the child I guess help come up with the answer of what that word might be. So, she uses different strategies to help build the children’s confidence and their reading as well as their fluency and comprehension,” said Kohl.
So, what do the kids think? Second-grader Wimberley Dunnam said, “it’s really fun because sometimes if you can’t figure the word out you can just give him a little cuddle until you figure it out.”
The same goes for Second-grader Jensen Snider. “I’m just surprised that they are so big, and I am always surprised that there are dogs at school! Reading with McKenna makes me feel comfortable,” said Snider.
Although she is a Kindergarten teacher, Kohl says her students will get to benefit from the program.
“Right now, it does only service (grades 1, 2 and 3) only because those are the key grades where those children are really into that reading and that’s where you start to see most of the struggles. Being a kindergarten teacher, I am going to be very fortunate that she is going to be meeting with my kids once a month and doing a whole group lesson with my own class. So, she’ll read a story with her dog – he’ll be in the room and kinder will get to experience it, but they won’t get that one-on-one opportunity with the dogs because it really does focus on those first through third graders,” said Kohl.
Dishman, who is one of several individuals trained to administer the reading program through Canine Classmates, says since 2007, 97 percent of those students who were served demonstrated a significant behavior modification while 95 percent of them showed improvement in school attendance.
Those wishing to learn more on how they can participate in the program or support its efforts are asked to visit canineclassmates.org. They may also contact Kohl at Navarro Elementary School.