About the Story Dogs Organisation throughout Australia
Learn about us
Leah Sheldon and Janine Sigley formed the non-profit Story Dogs organisation in 2009 in Murwillumbah, NSW. At the time both Leah and Janine had primary school aged children.
After seeing a similar program operating in the USA on the internet they decided Australia needed such a program. They came up with Story Dogs, based on the successful American literacy program, Reading Education Assistance Dogs (R.E.A.D.), which was launched in 1999 in Utah, USA. R.E.A.D. was the first comprehensive literacy program built around the appealing idea of children and young adolescents reading to dogs.
Leah and Janine are both dog lovers and also passionate about children reaching their full potential.
Underpinning the objectives of our program is the knowledge that “students with reading difficulties find themselves in a cycle of almost unrelenting failure that ensures an ever-widening gap between them and fluent readers.” (Konza, 2006. p. 152).
They first trialled the program in 2009 in their own children’s school, Murwillumbah East Public School, even though the Principal and others were unsure how successful it would be.
To the Principal's surprise, Story Dogs was very successful, with great improvements noticed in the participating students. There was positive feedback from the students, the teachers, the principal and the parents.
From there, Story Dogs expanded and has continued to grow and help all of Australia.
Woof Woof!
Which children are chosen for the program?
The children are usually Year 2 students, generally between seven- and eight-years-old who are chosen by the school. We do not take children below Year 1.
Story Dogs does not assess the children in any way, as the sessions are designed to be as fun and non-threatening as possible. We rely on assessment results taken by the school.
Parental consent is required before a child can participate in the program.
The volunteers
Story Dogs handlers are volunteers trained to help emergent readers. The handler will not judge the child and will help in a non-threatening way. We are fully insured and our handlers have Working with Children Checks as per each State's regulations.
