Effect of a Canine-Assisted Read Aloud Intervention on Reading Ability and Physiological Response: A Pilot Study

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Canine-assisted reading aloud programs have been attracting growing interest because reading to a dog may contribute to the reading performance of children. The positive effect of a canine-assisted reading aloud program, however, received limited empirical support. Specifically, most of the current papers were papers of expert opinions. The current pilot study aimed at providing preliminary evidence for the effects of reading to dogs on three lower-performing third-graders’ reading abilities and understanding their physiological stress responses. The findings of the study implied that canine-assisted reading aloud programs had potential to increase the reading fluency and relaxation level of children with lower performance when reading to a dog. ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to determine whether there is an increase in the reading fluency and accuracy of three lower performing third-graders after participating in a canine-assisted read-aloud program, as well as an increase in the relaxation level during and after the program. This study employed a pre-test-post-test design to test the hypotheses that gains would be made in both reading fluency and reading accuracy upon completion of the program. The three grade 3 students were assessed by the Chinese Character Reading Test and the Reading Fluency Test. During the intervention, they read to a trained canine in the presence of a handler. Three days after the completion of the seven 20-min interventions, the participants were assessed by the two standardized reading tests a second time. Heart rate variability (HRV) responses to the pre-test, the intervention and the post-test were recorded. The three grade 3 students attained a higher level of relaxation while reading to the dog and increased their reading fluency after the reading sessions. These results provided preliminary evidence that the canine-assisted read-aloud program can increase the reading performance of children with lower performance. Implications for future research and reading programs will be discussed.