MILFORD, Del. - Literacy Education Assistance Pups (LEAP) launched in 2005 to help elementary students in Kent and Sussex Counties learn how to read. The program was welcomed by Mispillion Elementary three years ago.
LEAP dogs and their owners visit elementary schools, libraries, and assisted living facilities. On Thursday they came dressed in costume to read with Ms. Goldsboro, Mrs. Evans, and Mrs. Herd's classes at Mispillion Elementary.
"They will sit to them and they will read to them and it helps to improve their reading," Heather Craig-Evans, who teaches special education to third through fifth graders.
Facilities coordinator Philip Keats says LEAPS 80 members aim to improve the students' reading skills. "It's been shown that if the student participates on a regular basis, their reading skills improve over the course of a school year," he says.
Debbie McLean and her dog Chase have been a part of LEAP for eight years. They help Mispillion Elementary students once a week. "They just seem to love the dogs, to read to the dogs," she says. "They're less intimidated talking to the dogs and reading to the dogs."
To join LEAP, dogs and their owners have to go through a three week training process.
"It's a process of evaluating the dog and how it behaves and also training the owner," says Keats.
LEAP would like to expand into more elementary schools. Click here for more information on how schools can invite the pups on campus and how dog owners can sign their dogs up for training sessions.
