CARE Team's Labrador retriever a good listener

When students at Scott City Elementary School are having a bad day, Butter -- with her soft white fur and large ears -- is there to listen.

A Labrador retriever, Butter is in her fifth year as part of the Children At Risk in Education (CARE) Team at the elementary school. Two of the main CARE Team members are elementary counselor and psychological examiner Jamie Sander and Nick Grassi, who works part of the time with at-risk students and partly as a high school special education teacher.

"She does things that I can't do in terms of sometimes children just need to talk about something, but they don't necessarily want to talk to another adult," Sander said. " ... We always talk about [how] Butter's got big ears and that's for good listening, so if you want to sit down and talk to Butter you can. ... They'll sit and they'll talk to Butter and then they'll say, 'OK, I think I'm ready to go back to class.' She gives them a few tail wags and they give her a treat and they're out the door. ... Sometimes just being able to get that out helps them have a good rest of the day."

The CARE Team covers 14 students, mainly in third and fourth grade, identified as being at-risk by their classroom teacher and/or one of the people involved in the student's education. New this year, the at-risk component focuses on students who may have behavioral or academic issues, or need something as basic as glasses to help them achieve success, said Sander and Grassi.

Using those concerns as a foundation, educators work out a contract that is signed by the student, their parents and homeroom teacher. "And from that, they identify some behaviors or improvements that they would like to work on. ... Based on that, they develop a rewards system so they are able to be successful in making progress," Sander said.

Some of the incentives can include extra recess time, tossing a football with Grassi, time with Butter, playing with a Wii, and being named by Sander as an "expert dog walker" for a week.

Fourth-graders in good standing apply for the dog walking position as they would any job -- by filling out an application, getting references and signing their name. A teacher also has to sign the application. "They're given a job description so that they know what's expected. It talks about their duties. They come in the morning and they get her [Butter] fresh water, they brush her, and they walk her each day during the morning recess for one week," Sander said.

Dog walkers receive a rubber bracelet with pawprints on it and a pawprint lanyard with a pawprint label with their name on it. "She wears that and that's how the school knows she's the expert dog walker. So if they see her and Butter, they know they're doing an important job ...," Sander said.

Grassi, who also is a direct care aide at Cottonwood Residential Treatment Center, a state mental health facility in Cape Girardeau, said some of the principles used at the treatment center have been employed by the CARE Team.

There are no standardized tests to go by, but anecdotally, Sander and Grassi said the program has produced results.

"We've seen one young man in third grade [who] has completely [tested] out of title reading. His grades have increased from a D to C to more like a B-to-C range," Grassi said.

Sander said title reading is for struggling readers. Students get separate, small-group assistance that helps them focus on some skills they need to get them on grade level, she said.

"Ultimately our goal is to show these children love and that we care about their progress academically," Grassi said.

The CARE Team works within its means using funding available at the school. "We have to be pretty creative sometimes with the incentives that we give," Grassi said.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address:

3000 Main St., Scott City