What makes the R.E.A.D. program different from the many pet therapy programs?
It may not be different at all, except that occurs in the reading arena instead of a more typical health care institutional setting. In general, we have made a concerted effort to acquaint therapists with the value of AAT and have pushed our interactions way beyond mere visits (though those have therapeutic benefits as well) to serious involvement in the therapeutic regimens of our clients. We push to get the ratio of dog-to-client to one-on-one, because that’s where the most powerful changes happen. The same is true for R.E.A.D. — if the children were to sit in a group and take turns reading to the dog, that would defeat the whole purpose. Many children fear reading precisely because they are afraid to make mistakes in front of their peers, don’t want to be thought stupid, and don’t want to be criticized or made fun of for a speech impediment.
