Lucky program improves 1st-grader’s reading, esteem

POST FALLS – Every child loves a stuffed animal. Some children talk to theirs, while others find it comforting to tightly clutch one in uncomfortable situations.

But local schools are discovering that a stuffed animal can do so much more for a child. The soft toys can help increase confidence and self-esteem.

Camy Popiel of Horace Mann Insurance and Jim Parker of Parker Toyota are supporters of many local school programs.

Armed with information that reading to a dog has been known to decrease a person’s blood pressure and slow the heart rate, they wanted to see what effect reading to a dog would have on local schoolchildren.

So they took the Parker Toyota dog, Lucky, to area schools and allowed children to interact with him. They distributed “pawtographs” to the kids who quickly bonded with Lucky.

But it was unrealistic to believe that Lucky could visit all area schools on a regular basis, so Popiel and Parker began a pilot program.

They purchased 23 Labrador puppy stuffed animals to see if the effect would be the same with a stuffed animal as with a live animal. They modeled their program on a similar one in Western Washington and called it Learning With Lucky.

“It started in Western Washington with the Reading With Rover program,” said Popiel, who added that the Reading with Rover program involves real dogs. “It is a great reading incentive for first-graders.”

Stuffed animals do not criticize a child. They do not interrupt when a child attempts to sound out a word. They are the captive audience a child needs to gain the confidence to read aloud.

So Popiel and Parker thought the stuffed animals probably would have the same effect as a real animal.

“We thought we would see if we got the same result with stuffed animals, and we did,” said Popiel.

They started with Cathy Bayes’ first-grade class at Bryan Elementary School in Coeur d’Alene in the spring of 2006 and quickly saw results.

“The whole idea was to improve (the children’s) confidence,” said Bayes. But she discovered the program also increased children’s love of reading and their reading level.

After seeing the results, Popiel soon found herself at Toys “R” Us, purchasing 1,200 Lab puppy stuffed animals for the 2006-‘07 school year.

Under the program, which involves elementary schools in the Coeur d’Alene, Lakeland and Post Falls school districts, approximately 1,400 Lab puppy stuffed animals have been purchased for area first-graders.

“I now know that 874 puppies can fit in the back of a (Toyota) Tacoma pickup,” said Popiel.

Bayes said this year’s first-grade class has excelled with the Learning With Lucky program.

“Half of my class is going into chapter books,” said Bayes. She added that one girl is reading “Little Women,” a book that most children do not read until third or fourth grade.

Monique English, a first-grade teacher at Atlas Elementary School in Coeur d’Alene, said she has seen the reading in her classroom increase significantly with the Learning With Lucky program. She recently told Popiel that the 26 children in her classroom have read a total of 1,383 books.

“That’s an average of 53 books per child,” said Popiel.

At the end of the year, each child gets to take his or her puppy home.

If the students who participated in last year’s pilot program are typical, the benefits will continue into second grade. Bayes said the pupils in her class last year are continuing to read to their stuffed animals at home this year.

“It is going to be fun watching this all evolve,” said Popiel.

The presence of the stuffed puppies in the classroom also has helped curb behavior problems, Popiel said.

“If the child is misbehaving, then the puppy cannot come out and read,” she said. “Essentially, (the child) is in the doghouse.”

Popiel said one teacher reported that a father had contacted the school, saying his child no longer wants to play videogames or watch television; instead, he would rather sit and read.

“We are hearing all kinds of stories,” said Popiel. “I never imagined it would have this effect.”

Popiel and Parker have copyrighted the Learning With Lucky program and are looking forward to launching their Web site, LearningWithLucky.net, and taking the program nationwide.

In the meantime, they will continue to provide the area’s incoming first-graders with their own stuffed puppy.

And that could not make Bayes happier.

“I was going to purchase puppies for my own class if Horace Mann and Parker Toyota weren’t going to do it,” she said. “With this program, these kids now think they can read anything.”