The Rewards of Reading to Pets

I’m a retired schoolteacher and school counselor who is substituting for LAUSD. Our principal accepted our offer to have children read to Aiden. I asked a special education teacher and one of my friends who teaches third grade if they would allow their children to read to Aiden. I’ve taken Aiden to school events, like our Saturday Beautification Days, so the students were familiar with him.

We selected students who needed more reading practice. I was amazed at the interaction and the reaction of the students. Since Aiden is not judgmental when they read to him, he doesn’t correct them, he just gives them his attention. The students used self-correcting techniques and enjoyed reading to him. I think that some of them thought that he understood the stories.

We worked with some of the same students numerous times during the year. It was great, a wonderful experience for the students. And a learning experience for us.

Learn more about our pet-focused reading projects:

• Read With Me, our initiative to support childhood literacy through reading to therapy animals
• We Are All Ears, our worldwide read to pets project that anyone can participate in!