Reading is important for children's development and performance at school and in life, as it strengthens their attention and concentration and expands their horizons. We start reading when we are young, so it is important to familiarize children with reading by reading them fairy tales. In that way, they might gain interest to continue reading and learning independently at a later stage. Fairy tales open up a world of imagination and play. They also help children learn about the real life, problems and ways to deal with these problems. In that way, children learn about different cultures and values. Reading thus affects their comprehensive development. This master's thesis presents children’s reading with the assistance of a therapy dog. In particular, we wanted to determine how children read in the presence of a therapy dog, what the role of its presence is for children and whether motivation for reading changes through different reading sessions. We conducted a research with a Slovene association for animal-assisted therapy, Smile Ambassadors (sl. Ambasadorji nasmeha), and monitored third-graders' motivation for reading during sessions. Before and after sessions, a pretest and posttest were conducted to monitor the progress of motivation. Once the sessions were over, we also surveyed the children's parents to obtain their feedback regarding the sessions. In the research, qualitative and quantitative research methods were used (surveys, monitoring, observation scheme). The acquired data were continuously recorded and suitably analysed. According to the analysis, children's motivation for reading as well as their interest in reading increased. It is also evident that parents gave positive feedback about reading in the presence of a therapy dog, so they recommend this approach to others. The results of this master's thesis provide an insight into how children actually read in the presence of a therapy dog. It also encourages teachers to introduce this approach in their teaching, as it is something new, positive and exciting, while at the same time providing incentive and possibly increasing children's motivation for reading.
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