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The University of Iowa College of Education alumni, and students share educational outreach, teaching, and cultural experiences focused on literacy.
A first-grade student at Penn Elementary School in North Liberty, Iowa, is anxious about writing and reading. But Principal Julie Robinson (MA ’91) has the perfect sidekick to put the little girl at ease: a good-natured golden retriever named Sidda. Sidda is a specially trained helping dog who lives with Robinson and works at the school. The first graders visit Sidda once a day to write with her in a journal and read to her. “When kids who have difficulty reading and lack self confidence when reading to others read to Sidda, they really ease up because she just offers them unconditional acceptance,” Robinson said. Robinson said reading to Sidda has even worked for children with behavior issues. A fifth grader who struggled with emotional outbursts would come to Robinson’s office to read to Sidda whenever he needed some time to cool down. “One day he said to me, ‘Mrs. Robinson, do you think I should start where I left off with her in my book, or should I start where I am now?’ I said ‘Why don’t you give her a couple sentences to fill her in.’ I never would have dreamt that this fifth grader would ask that question,” she said. Sixth-grader student Zach Scihart said he likes reading to Sidda. “I’m not nervous because she just lays her head in your lap and listens,” he said. Sidda has been a fixture at Penn for over two years. She came to the school through a nonprofit organization called CARES (Canine Assistance Rehabilitation Education & Services). The Kansas-based organization trains and places helping dogs of all kinds, including seeing eye dogs, search and rescue dogs, and assistance dogs for schools and nursing homes. Robinson said she and her staff are still discovering the best ways to use Sidda. Sidda will often visit classrooms for story time. Students draw pictures for Sidda. A class performed a choral poetry reading for her. Sidda also helps with discipline and with deescalating emotional situations at the school. “If kids are having an argument, a lot of times I’ll bring them to my office and we’ll sit on the floor with Sidda and we’ll pet Sidda and it’s just harder to be angry,” Robinson said. “Many kids who are upset or scared or angry respond so much better to a dog than they necessarily would to a human at that point. They know they’re not going to get in trouble with Sidda. She’s not judging them. She’s not mad at them.” “He could be the person who brushed Sidda, but she had very specific times when she needed to be brushed, so when the bell would ring, he could come in and give her 10 brushes before going to his classroom,” Robinson said. First-grade teacher Mary Trieber (BA ’00) watched as her students surrounded Sidda in the school library, the whole group reaching in to pet her while the dog lay quietly. “They gravitate toward Sidda the moment they see her,” Trieber said. “She’s so open, so approachable. She really is a resource.” Robinson said she would recommend an assistance dog to any school, so long as the dog belongs to someone who plans to stay at the school for the long term and the school’s staff is comfortable around dogs. “Sidda has made a positive impact at our school. For a lot of people, including adults, she just makes you smile,” Robinson said. “You see her walking down the hall wagging her tail and you think, wow, that’s kind of cool.”
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Robinson has even found creative ways to use Sidda to help with less dramatic behavior issues. A kindergartener was refusing to come in from recess when the bell rang, so Robinson enlisted his help as Sidda’s official brusher. 
