Journey Charter School Welcomes Therapy Dog To The Team
28 October 2019 News
Ripon, WI — Journey Charter School is welcoming a new member to the team – a therapy dog named Shelby. Therapy dogs are canines that are trained to provide comfort and affection to people in retirement homes, nursing homes, hospices, schools, hospitals, and disaster areas. Schools across the country are
reaching out to therapy dog programs for the many benefits they provide to students.
Therapy dogs provide an excellent way to inexpensively assist students in focusing on their education. Research over the past 30 years indicates that therapy dogs may offer physiological, emotional, social, and physical support for children in schools. In the past ten years, there has been an increase in the use of therapy dogs in classrooms and an increase in the number of research articles on the benefits of therapy dogs. According to a 2017 study by Kropp and Schupp, there are three main benefits to therapy dogs in schools: (a)
increased reading and language skills as students read aloud to their furry friend, (b) social and emotional gains, and (c) improved gross motor skills.
Last school year, Journey Charter School received a grant to collaborate with Sassu Enterprises to bring in therapy dogs on a bi-weekly basis. The Journey Governance Council voted to use fundraising dollars to expand this effort so that the dogs visited weekly. While the visits were helpful, the one-hour time frame and the one day a week visit was not enough to meet the needs of all students.
With the goal of filling those needs, teachers presented the idea of purchasing a therapy dog for Journey Charter School to parents and the school governance council. In an end-of-year survey, parents responded to a question asking if they felt a licensed therapy dog would be a positive addition to Journey Charter School. Ninety-four percent of the 50 parent responses were in favor of purchasing a therapy dog for the school.
Using funds Journey received from the state for mentoring a charter school in another district, the Journey team is excited to welcome Shelby, an eight- week- old Goldendoodle puppy. She lives with her handler Ms. Carrie Naparalla and spends the majority of her time in Ms. Naparalla’s classroom right now,
though she is available to any student for snuggling. Shelby is attending Puppy Preschool through Ideal Dog in Oshkosh and will continue training throughout her first year as she prepares for therapy dog certification. Visit the RASD Facebook page for updates on Shelby and her work with students.
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