Burns By Your Side
Our Vision
“For every child, no matter where they come from or how low their reading skills are, there is a book that will take their breath away… a book that will make them want to pick up another book. And for every child, finding that joy of reading will change their life!”
We train and support volunteers with their dogs to go into schools on a weekly basis to support preselected reluctant readers and promote a positive relationship with books and reading.
We currently have a dedicated team of over 100 volunteers reading with children in schools, colleges, libraries and special educational units covering South and West Wales.
Animal Assisted Intervention
The scheme is categorised as an animal assisted intervention, designed to create a stress free, relaxed environment where a reluctant reader can read to the dog without interruption or social pressure.
The scheme has also proven highly beneficial for children with communication, confidence, trauma and anxiety issues. Research shows learning is blocked by stress/ anxiety/ classically conditioned emotional responses and this project addresses these blocks and alleviates them without the child ever being aware.
The ability to read opens the door to a world of possibilities, however for a lot of children and young people, especially post-covid, school refusal and school reluctance is a real issue and has a lasting impact on educational attainment and success. Early detection and the introduction of novel / alternative interventions are widely recognised as best practice for this issue.
The reading dogs scheme provides a calm, relaxing safe environment where a child can enjoy a book without any judgement, they can develop their vocabulary and improve their reading skills.
We offer a free service to schools
Once assessed for suitability and fully trained, volunteer teams attend schools regularly, encouraging a relationship between dog and child. Countless children have flourished as part of the scheme, developing a lasting positive association with reading and communication.
The schools involved in the scheme also benefit from the children being educated on how to be safe around dogs.
We offer this free service to schools to support the ongoing work they do with learners.
When asked if a teacher would recommend this initiative the response was ‘absolutely and without hesitation’.
We are proud to work with:
