Having Dogs In School Improves SEL, Cognitive, And Even Reading Skills

May 17, 2019 by apost team

Schools across America are inviting dogs into the classroom to help both students and teachers. According to a spokesperson for the Alliance for Therapy Dogs, the dogs create a welcoming environment, help students cope with trauma and assist children on the autism spectrum. They also make learning fun.

Therapy dogs are not the same as service dogs, the American Kennel Club (AKC) explains. Service dogs are trained to help individuals with a certain disability. Some service dogs are trained to help visually impaired people navigate their home and neighborhood safely. Other service dogs are trained to detect seizures before they happen.

Therapy dogs are trained to provide support and comfort. They are often used in residential or hospital settings. The AKC reports that schools have started using therapy dogs to provide cognitive skills, health, and social emotional learning (SEL).

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A study published in Frontiers in Psychology says that there are benefits for social behavior, mood, and interpersonal interactions in a human-animal interaction. It further goes on to say:

The presence of a dog in an educational setting seems to support concentration, attention, motivation, and relaxation reflecting reduction of high stress levels which inhibit effective learning and performance. Also, the presence of a dog creates a pleasant social atmosphere, which is known to be an essential component for optimal executive functioning (Diamond and Lee, 2011), which represents a precondition for learning.

An organization called 4Paws Learning and Wellness Center actually functions on the role of bringing people together with dogs to read aloud to them. They believe that reading aloud is essential for developing reading skills, but some new readers might be shy. What better audience for these new readers than a cute, loyal pup who will be all ears with no judgment? The organization was part of a study that had wonderful results for the participants: students "improved their reading fluency by 12 percent."

Did you know that petting a dog can slow your heart rate and decrease your blood pressure? Dr. Andrea Beetz and her team from the Frontiers in Psychology study found that spending time with a favorite pet can also reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. It can be said that without such negative factors in their lives, students can then focus on their learning.

Not everyone is a fan of inviting dogs into the classroom. Some critics mentioned in this study from the Early Childhood Education Journal worry about cleanliness being an issue. Dogs can spread diseases if they aren't properly groomed and vaccinated. There are also concerns about children with allergies. Trainers bathe therapy dogs before bringing them into a school, but precautions need to be taken when introducing a student to a therapy dog for the first time.

It's important that students are never forced to interact with the therapy dogs. While most kids love puppies, some are terrified of dogs. A positive experience could change the way a frightened student feels about dogs, but it should probably happen naturally.

Watch the video below to explore the topic more and see kids interact with dogs in the library or classroom.

Do you think dogs have a place in education? Should more schools incorporate dogs into their lesson plans? Tag your friends in the comments, and tell us how you feel about therapy dogs in the classroom.