Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Saturday, April 05, 2008
In Alma, reading is fun and Easy
 Vicki Englich, community liaison at Winona State University, hosts a Community Resource Fair for student with housing information on everything from signing leases to their legal right as a renter to apartment condition checklists. Englich says she wants students to know that even if they live off campus they are still part of campus and she is a resource available for any questions they might have. (photo by Katie Derus/Winona Daily News) |
Story by Kevin Behr | Photo by Melissa Carlo | Winona Daily News
Teaching kids to enjoy reading while improving their skills and building their self-esteem can be challenging work. But one high school student has come up with a solution that makes it easy. With a capital E.
Easy is a 4-year-old Australian shepherd trained to be a good listener for kids who either aren’t very good readers or just don’t like to do it. And it was the idea of Easy’s owner to bring him to school to give second- through sixth-graders a new pal to read with.
An animal lover her entire life, Hannah Ruff said that she has benefited from the love, friendship and kindness of animals. She wanted to share those benefits with others and got permission to bring Easy to Mary Jacobson’s class for children with learning disabilities in the elementary wing of Alma Area School.
Some kids are reluctant readers, while others have hyperactive disorders, Jacobson said. She said that oftentimes the kids can get loud or start bouncing off the walls. Named for his laid-back attitude, Easy has a calming effect on the children and quiets the room, she said. Not only has Easy calmed the classroom environment, he has also helped in the educational aspect.
“I can’t believe how it’s helped,” Jacobson said. “The reading has really improved.”
Ruff said that she, too, has seen an improvement in the kids’ reading skills. She said Easy has shown the kids that reading doesn’t have to be a chore and that it can be fun.
“Easy has definitely made a difference,” she said.
But getting Easy into the classroom was anything but easy. Ruff said the kids’ parents were sketchy about the idea at first, thinking the classroom would become a petting zoo. But Ruff knew that her proposed program would benefit the children, and she was determined to see it work.
“If I couldn’t do it here,” she said, “I’d do it somewhere else.”
She wrote letters to the parents and presented her program to the superintendent, the school board and the principal. She outlined the benefits dogs bring to literacy programs by presenting studies that show that a dog can offer children a nonjudgmental ear while acting as a motivating friend. Essentially, dogs are confidence boosters for kids struggling with reading.
Easy is certified as a “Canine Good Citizen” through the American Kennel Club, has three years of obedience training and has been cleared by Therapy Dogs International to work as a therapy dog.
Parents warmed up to the idea and have been excited about the program ever since, Ruff said. She has brought her dog into the classroom twice a week since February and earns one school credit for tutoring the children. Her only regret: “I wish I’d thought of it sooner.”
Ruff graduates from high school in May and said she could easily become a veterinarian because of her love of animals. But because
she loves animals so much, she wants to share their benefits with others, especially children. She hopes to integrate dogs into the field of occupational therapy while
studying at the University of
Wisconsin-La Crosse. She hopes to work someday in pediatrics.
A school band member, choir singer, 4-H-er and FFA vice president, Ruff said she’s excited to start college but will also make sure Easy comes back for visits because the kids will probably miss him.
The real reason, however, seems to be that she’ll miss them just as much.
“I look forward to it every time I come in here,” she said. “I want to do this the rest of my life.”
Contact Kevin Behr at
(507) 453-3524 or
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