Now that the school year is underway, the Bright Spot Reading Buddy dogs are heading back to work with the students. We are delighted to have Reading Buddy programs running in elementary schools in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties of Massachusetts.
The students at Westhampton Elementary School (WES) were so excited to see Lily again. Lily was just as excited as they were. She greeted the school librarian with a big hug! The second graders are old friends to Lily. She listened to all of them read to her last year. Her first graders are new and were meeting Lily for the first time.
Everybody had a chance to pet Lily before the one-on-one Reading Buddy sessions began in the special area of the school library set up for reading-to-the dog.
A Reading Buddy dog provides a friendly, non-threatening, non-judgmental listener. Children feel relaxed and secure with the dog. They know the dog doesn’t care if they make a mistake. The children at The Kelly School, where we have five Reading Buddy teams in the school’s Tails to Read Program, have made great strides in reading, some jumping as much as four and five reading levels.
Word of such success is spreading resulting in many more requests from principals wanting to start a Reading Buddy program at their schools. With this increased demand, we hope to have more Bright Spot certified therapy dog teams choose to become involved in this valuable – and fun – program.