狗如何幫助孩子學(xué)習(xí)閱讀

狗如何幫助孩子學(xué)習(xí)閱讀

I consider myself to be a patient person. I can sit through hours of ballet rehersals and play practices, unending games of Chutes and Ladders (without cheating!), and long, complicated stories about who-had-what-for-lunch at school each day. But I'm finding that one aspect of parenting that can try even my patience is in teaching my youngest how to read.

我認(rèn)為自己是一個有耐心的人。我可以坐著看幾個小時的芭蕾舞彩排和游戲練習(xí)，沒完沒了的滑道和梯子游戲(沒有作弊!)但我發(fā)現(xiàn)，在教育我最小的孩子如何閱讀方面，即使是我的耐心也會受到考驗。

Experts say reading to dogs helps kids overcome their fear of reading out loud. (Photo: Gladskikh Tatiana/Shutterstock)

Don't get me wrong. I really do love reading with my kids. In fact, it's one of my favorite things to do with my kids. But it's just so very hard to listen to my youngest learn how to read, without jumping in to read it for her. She can read the word "the" seven times in one book and then struggle to sound it out the next time she sees it. She can sound out a word like "harbor" and then get stumped at the word "a". (I'm not kidding!) And as much as I will myself to remain silent, I can't help but tense up at the insane contradictions that come with learning how to read.

別誤會我的意思。我真的很喜歡和孩子們一起讀書。事實上，這是我和孩子們最喜歡做的事情之一。但聽我最小的孩子學(xué)習(xí)閱讀，卻不幫她讀，實在是太難了。她可以在一本書里讀七遍“the”這個詞，然后在下次看到它的時候努力把它讀出來。她能說出一個像“harbor”這樣的詞，然后被“a”難住了。(我不是在開玩笑!)盡管我很想保持沉默，但在學(xué)習(xí)閱讀過程中出現(xiàn)的那些瘋狂的矛盾讓我不禁緊張起來。

It turns out, I'm not alone. Researchers have found that it's hard for a parent — or anyone who already knows how to read for that matter — to patiently sit by and listen to another person struggle to read. This is precisely why the latest trend in teaching kids to read has gone to the dogs — literally.

事實證明，我并不孤單。研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，父母或任何已經(jīng)知道如何閱讀的人很難耐心地坐在旁邊，傾聽另一個正在努力閱讀的人。這正是為什么最近教孩子讀書的潮流走向墮落的原因。

Experts say that reading to dogs — specifically those trained to read with children, like Daisy, in the video below — helps kids get over the fear of being judged when they read. Because try as we might to hide it, young kids feel that tension when they make mistakes. Reading to dogs gives kids a non-judgmental, comforting companion to listen to them without the pressure of perfection.

專家表示，給狗狗朗讀——尤其是那些像黛西這樣接受過與孩子們一起閱讀訓(xùn)練的狗狗，可以幫助孩子們克服閱讀時被評判的恐懼。因為盡管我們盡力去隱藏它，小孩子在犯錯時還是會感到緊張。給狗狗讀書給孩子們提供了一個不帶評判的、安慰的伙伴，讓他們在沒有完美壓力的情況下傾聽。

Research confirms it

研究證實了它

Researchers from the University of British Columbia Okanagan School of Education watched 17 children in grades 1 through 3 read. They were given reading passages that were slightly above their normal reading level and were asked to read either to an observer alone or to a therapy dog and its owner. When the children finished reading a page, they were asked if they wanted to continue.

英屬哥倫比亞大學(xué)奧卡那根教育學(xué)院的研究人員觀察了17名一到三年級的兒童閱讀。他們被要求閱讀比他們正常閱讀水平略高的文章，并被要求閱讀給單獨(dú)的觀察者或治療犬及其主人聽。當(dāng)孩子們讀完一頁后，他們被問是否想繼續(xù)。

“The findings showed that children spent significantly more time reading and showed more persistence when a dog—regardless of breed or age—was in the room as opposed to when they read without them,” says doctoral student Camille Rousseau, in a statement. “In addition, the children reported feeling more interested and more competent.”

博士生卡米爾·盧梭在一份聲明中說:“研究結(jié)果表明，與沒有狗的房間相比，當(dāng)狗在房間里時，孩子們花在閱讀上的時間明顯更多，而且表現(xiàn)出更強(qiáng)的毅力，不管狗的品種和年齡。”“此外，孩子們報告說感覺更感興趣，更有能力。”

Researchers hope that the findings, which were published in the journal Anthrozoos, could help develop "gold-standard" canine-assisted program for struggling readers.

研究人員希望這項發(fā)表在《人類動物園》雜志上的發(fā)現(xiàn)能夠幫助那些掙扎中的讀者開發(fā)出“黃金標(biāo)準(zhǔn)”的犬類輔助閱讀程序。

Similarly, an earlier study by researchers at the University of California, Davis found that kids who read to specially trained therapy dogs improved their reading skills by 12% over the course of a 10-week program. Kids who read by themselves or to adults showed no improvement in the same 10-week program.

類似地，加州大學(xué)戴維斯分校的研究人員早些時候進(jìn)行的一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在為期10周的訓(xùn)練中，為經(jīng)過特殊訓(xùn)練的治療犬朗讀的孩子的閱讀能力提高了12%。在同樣的10周計劃中，自學(xué)或向成人朗讀的孩子沒有任何進(jìn)步。

Maybe it's time to have the family dog help with reading lessons. And if you don't have a pup, check out the Reading Education Assistance Dogs (READ) program or Tail Waggin' Tutors to see if there are any reading assistance dogs available in your area.

也許是時候讓家里的狗狗來幫忙上閱讀課了。如果你沒有幼犬，可以看看閱讀教育輔助犬(READ)項目或搖尾導(dǎo)師，看看你所在地區(qū)是否有閱讀輔助犬。