Rover Can Help Your Child Read

Information courtesy of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.

A study published today out of Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University shows that kids can maintain reading skills through the summer by reading to dogs.

In the study, second grade students with a range of reading aptitudes and attitudes toward reading were paired with dogs—or people—and asked to read aloud to them once a week for 30 minutes in the summer of 2010.

At the end of the program, students who read to the dogs experienced a slight gain in their reading ability and improvement in their attitudes toward reading, as measured on the Curriculum-Based Measurement and Elementary Reading Attitude Survey, respectively. Those who read to people experienced a decrease on both measures. 

Another surprising result was the high rate of attrition among students in the control group. Of the original group of nine, a third failed to complete the program. No students left the dog-reading group.

It appears the dog days of summer should include books.

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