PENNY'S FROM HEAVEN FOUNDATION R.E.A.D. PROGRAM AT FT SAM HOUSTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL has found our program is helping turn children’s reading environments into a non-threatening place where children can read for the fun of it. “There is no risk of being embarrassed when a word is mispronounced or a student reads slowly or doesn’t understand the exact meaning of a sentence.”Children join AAT reading programs because they are below grade level or have self esteem issues and have been identified as at-risk.
Children in these reading programs have improved self confidence and a pride in their accomplishments. They find reading more fun and actually will volunteer to read aloud in class.
Researcher Aaron Katcher in his book, Between Pets and People: The Importance of Animal Companionship, 1996 Purdue University Press, notes that the presence of an animal can create a therapeutic environment by:
Drawing attention outward
Turning off anxiety, anger, depression
Creating safety
Creating intimacy
Increasing positive expectations of self and others
For information on Penny’s From Heaven Foundation’s Therapy Tails Program
Contact: http://www.pennysfromheavenfoundation.org/
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