Reading to Dogs at Home: A Pilot Study.

In summer 2021, during the coronavirus pandemic, 8 parent-child dyads were recruited to participate in a pilot project to investigate the potential benefit of an at-home adaptation of an Animal-Assisted Intervention (AAI) for literacy. After completing a demographic survey and the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (Cohen et al., 1983), children's reading level was established using the Fry method and past report card information.

Supporting Young Readers: A Mixed-Methods Study of Their Literacy, Behaviour, and Perceptions When Reading Aloud to Dogs or Adults.

Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) have been found to benefit human emotional state and cognitive performance. Recent applications of AAI have extended to classrooms with a range of intentions including to improve literacy. This Canadian study sought to examine differences in reading performance and behaviour in early readers identified as requiring extra supports following exposure to a canine-assisted and adult-assisted reading support.