Reading Buddy James provides a listening ear.
My therapy dogs James and Lily are both Bright Spot Reading Buddies. My English Setter Lily (now 4 years old) started her therapy dog career as a Reading Buddy. Early on, I saw that Lily adored children. She loves being surrounded by them, the more the merrier. She craves the exuberant attention only kids can offer. Our Bright Spot Reading Buddies Program in elementary schools and libraries, I knew, was the perfect fit for her.
Lily listens while a second grader reads a Star Wars book.
My English Setter James, my veteran therapy dog (now 12 1/2 years old), had a varied therapy dog career visiting in healthcare environments. He started visiting at the age of five. Early in 2012, I noticed that James was not visiting with patients as enthusiastically as he had been over the past six years. I felt a change of visiting environment was in order. In February that year, I received a call from Karen Rousseau, the librarian at the Westhampton Elementary School wanting to start some kind of a reading program using therapy dogs. That spring, we held an afterschool pilot program which was met with great enthusiasm. The rest is history….
Bright Spot Therapy Dogs has Reading Buddy Programs in 2 western Massachusetts elementary schools, with several other schools seeking to come on-board. We have now developed a special training program for our Bright Spot certified therapy dog teams that would like to participate in this exciting and valuable program. Kids, staff, and parents love it. Specific information about the program can be found on our Bright Spot website.
It gives me great pleasure each week to watch my two therapy dogs, one a youngster, the other a senior, enjoying their important role in encouraging children to love reading.