Kathleen Molony
Here are the facts my fellow residents: 68% of fourth grade public school students in the U.S. scored below proficient reading level; three quarters of students who are poor readers in third grade will remain poor readers in high school and one in six children who is not reading proficiently in third grade does not graduate from high school on time; a rate four times greater than that for proficient readers.
Recently Therapy Paws, based right here in PebbleCreek, added a new element to its credit—The R.E.A.D. Program. R.E.A.D. stands for Reading Education Assistance Dogs. This is an innovative reading program which was started to improve the literacy skills of children by having them read to dogs. Therapy Paws has just completed the required training so that we are R.E.A.D. registered teams. We had a great two days of training with instructors flying in from Utah to prepare us to do this important work. We also partnered with the Avondale Police Department who co-sponsored the event. You may have seen some of the TV coverage on Fox News 10. Both Finnley, my Westie, and I made it in the clip that was shown! It was a lot of fun.
Working in partnership with the Avondale Police Department, we are very happy to announce our pilot program with the Barbara B. Robey School in Litchfield Park. Starting in just a few weeks we will begin the R.E.A.D. Program with the children reading to our dogs to improve their reading skills.
As residents of PebbleCreek this is an opportunity to help the next generation of children succeed. If you would like to learn more about becoming a therapy dog team so that you may participate in the new R.E.A.D. program or our organization go to www.therapypaws.org. If you wish to make a donation please send it to Therapy Paws, P.O. Box 1976, Litchfield Park, Arizona 85340. We are a registered 501(C) 3 organization.