It’s good to note that the law does not provide any directions on how this will be implemented. Instead, it is up to the boards of education in each county to figure out how to implement the law. In addition, public schools will not be required to provide students with therapy dogs. Instead, the law simply requires that the dogs be allowed in school.
According to Sen Ben Kramer of Montgomery, who sponsored the bill, allowing therapy dogs to accompany students to school is a great way of helping the students to relax and feel at ease, which is crucial for learning.
The idea for this legislation was brought to senators by school social workers from the country, who claimed that they had had great success with therapy dogs in schools, and wanted the senate to put in place a statewide law that would allow the use of these dogs in class.
The county school social workers claimed that their experiments involving the use of therapy dogs in learning environment had showed that the dogs made uncomfortable readers more relaxed, which in turn led to improvements in performance.
It’s good to note that students won’t be required to have their dogs around them all day. Instead, the dogs will be used during specific subjects where their benefits are more likely to be felt. Ultimately, it will be up to schools to come up with specific policies about the use of therapy dogs in class. Here’s a video of showing how a Labrador therapy dog has been helping students in one school.