Does the dog read to the child? Coventry Psychology in the Pub

Our speaker will be Dr Emma Vardy from CABS, Coventry University

‘Learning to read is a cognitively demanding process that some children struggle with. When looking to understand reading, development research has focused on the cognitive processes of learning to read; however there is now a call to take a broader enquiry into reading development that takes into account affective factors such as motivation, confidence and attitude. This talk will outline how affective factors play a role in reading development, and will involve audience participation to show how we can engage children with reading. The talk will then focus on a recent project evaluating the impact of a reading to dogs scheme. Emma will be joined by two therapy dogs and their owners to talk about the Read2Dog scheme’.