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Acquisition of literacy skills is of particular interest to me as the mother of a bright but incredibly active little engineer and a stereotypically precocious younger daughter. So, I perked up when I read about the Reading Education Assistance Dogs (READ) program. Troubled readers are paired with dogs with sweet dispositions who lay next to them while the children read aloud. The thinking is that reading to a non-judgemental audience, like a dog, is a less threatening way for a troublesome reader to gain confidence in his skills at reading aloud. If nothing else, I figure this is superior to reading to your 4 year old sister with good deductive language skills who yells the correct word at you as you struggle to sound it out.