Principal June Gaston poses with her 8 (of her 9) TWT’s in the Rosa Parks Library

At Rosa Parks Elementary School in Sioux Falls, SD, it was an honor for a student to be selected to read to one of their 9 Tail Waggin’ Tutors. Sioux Empire TDI established a pilot program for children K-5 to read to certified Therapy Dogs.  (TDI, Inc. program: Children Reading to Dogs) Each Tuesday or Wednesday, the TWT Handlers established a “nest” in the Rosa Parks library. Children arrived at the library, book in hand to read to a TWT for 15 minutes. Handlers and Teachers emailed about techniques, strategies and individual needs of each child in a team approach. Did it work? According to Principal June Gaston “We have seen progress in decoding, fluency and most of all, confidence.”