狗如何帮助孩子学习阅读

狗如何帮助孩子学习阅读

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.

我认为自己是一个有耐心的人。我可以坐着看几个小时的芭蕾舞彩排和游戏练习，没完没了的滑道和梯子游戏(没有作弊!)但我发现，在教育我最小的孩子如何阅读方面，即使是我的耐心也会受到考验。

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.

别误会我的意思。我真的很喜欢和孩子们一起读书。事实上，这是我和孩子们最喜欢做的事情之一。但听我最小的孩子学习阅读，却不帮她读，实在是太难了。她可以在一本书里读七遍“the”这个词，然后在下次看到它的时候努力把它读出来。她能说出一个像“harbor”这样的词，然后被“a”难住了。(我不是在开玩笑!)尽管我很想保持沉默，但在学习阅读过程中出现的那些疯狂的矛盾让我不禁紧张起来。

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.

事实证明，我并不孤单。研究人员发现，父母或任何已经知道如何阅读的人很难耐心地坐在旁边，倾听另一个正在努力阅读的人。这正是为什么最近教孩子读书的潮流走向堕落的原因。

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.

专家表示，给狗狗朗读——尤其是那些像黛西这样接受过与孩子们一起阅读训练的狗狗，可以帮助孩子们克服阅读时被评判的恐惧。因为尽管我们尽力去隐藏它，小孩子在犯错时还是会感到紧张。给狗狗读书给孩子们提供了一个不带评判的、安慰的伙伴，让他们在没有完美压力的情况下倾听。

Research confirms it

研究证实了它

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.

英属哥伦比亚大学奥卡那根教育学院的研究人员观察了17名一到三年级的儿童阅读。他们被要求阅读比他们正常阅读水平略高的文章，并被要求阅读给单独的观察者或治疗犬及其主人听。当孩子们读完一页后，他们被问是否想继续。

“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.”

博士生卡米尔·卢梭在一份声明中说:“研究结果表明，与没有狗的房间相比，当狗在房间里时，孩子们花在阅读上的时间明显更多，而且表现出更强的毅力，不管狗的品种和年龄。”“此外，孩子们报告说感觉更感兴趣，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.

研究人员希望这项发表在《人类动物园》杂志上的发现能够帮助那些挣扎中的读者开发出“黄金标准”的犬类辅助阅读程序。

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.

类似地，加州大学戴维斯分校的研究人员早些时候进行的一项研究发现，在为期10周的训练中，为经过特殊训练的治疗犬朗读的孩子的阅读能力提高了12%。在同样的10周计划中，自学或向成人朗读的孩子没有任何进步。

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.

也许是时候让家里的狗狗来帮忙上阅读课了。如果你没有幼犬，可以看看阅读教育辅助犬(READ)项目或摇尾导师，看看你所在地区是否有阅读辅助犬。