Ruff! Ruff! Ruff! is not something one normally hears during discussion about teaching the “three R’s” – reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic.
But soon canines will help kids become literate as part of a READing Paws program that is being formed in Catoosa County.
Fade Crump, a second-grader at Boynton Elem.; Maggie, a 3-year-old greyhound; Ashley Crump, a seventh-grader at Heritage Middle School; Melissa Holcombe, volunteer coordinator for READing Paws; and Jeffery “J.P.” Collins, a third-grader at Ringgold Elementary, from left, are some of the faces of the READing Paws program.READing Paws is animal-assisted therapy where kids read to dogs, according to Melissa Holcombe, a social worker with the local school system who is also volunteer coordinator for this program.
“Kids are often anxious when learning to read and that is something that can get in way of their ability to learn,” she said. “Dogs don’t judge.”
READing Paws uses nationally registered animal-owner/handler teams who volunteer to go to schools, libraries and other settings where the dogs become reading companions for children.