Everyone can remember a book from their childhood that helped transform them, reinvent them, turn the world on its head. Characters such as Harry Potter, Franklin the Turtle, Matilda, the Very Hungry Caterpillar, Corduroy, and Nancy Drew, among others continue to exist in the cultural zeitgeist because they remind us of our childhood and the experience of discovering something innovative and exciting for the first time.
For many young children, introductions to these timeless characters first come from an adult reading to them. Those interactions, starting with watching mouths form words, to exploring pictures, to eventually reading along, leave a lasting impression.”Adults remember being read to,” says pediatrician Perri Klass, MD. “It’s a very powerful thing.”
Klass serves as national medical director of Reach Out and Read, a nonprofit organization that champions the positive effects of reading and other language-rich activities with young children.
Dr Perri Klass
And what better partners to involve in this mission than pediatricians. Before a child reaches the age of 4, the US Department of Health and Human Services recommends that a child visit the pediatrician at least seven times. The Bright Futures/American Academy of Pediatrics suggests as many as 13 pediatrician visits before the child reaches that same milestone. Regardless of the exact number, almost all children are encountering a pediatrician multiple times during the most crucial years of their brain development.
In 1989, physicians Barry Zuckerman, MD, and Robert Needleman, MD, at Boston City Hospital (now Boston Medical Center) realized that they could reach a large population of children and parents, especially those coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, in the pediatrics ward of offices and hospitals all over the country.
The design of Reach Out and Read, the organization they founded, is to work with pediatricians in how they can best support parents in making reading to their children a part of their daily routine, advocating for the importance of books for children, and making sure that a child leaves the office with a book to take home.
Rather than just dumping books on to nervous or busy parents, the organization trains doctors on how to teach parents to read to their children; how to hold the books, how to make it as active as possible, how to point to the pictures and make them come to life, and how to make sure the child is grasping the language.
“You don’t just prop a baby up and read to them,” Klass told Medscape Medical News. “You have to make it interactive.”
Physician-Driven Success
Now an international organization, Klass has watched the nonprofit grow tremendously since it began during her fellowship in Boston over three decades ago. The initiative has over 6100 sites in all 50 states and is able to get books into the hands of 4.2 million children every single year through government aid, individual contributions, and in-kind donations. On average, the organization is able to give parents 6.4 million books annually. Half of the children served every year by the program come from low-income backgrounds.
Klass ascribed some of the organization’s longevity and success to “practical realism,” its “mission-driven” approach, and its creation by people in primary care who understood the constraints, the upkeep, and the scaling.
“Our organization isn’t looking to pile 10 more things on to the hands of pediatricians who are already very busy,” she said. “We understand that conversation is important with our care providers. We always hear that watching children happily interacting with literature is one of the most rewarding parts of their job. So, we’re saying to them, ‘I want to help you do what you enjoy most.’ ”
Brian Gallagher
Both Klass, who is also a presidential appointee to the Advisory Board of the National Institute For Literacy, and Brian Gallagher, MPA, the CEO of Reach Out and Read, said one of the most rewarding parts of their attachment to the organization is working with dedicated physicians all over the country.
“We hear all the time that physicians say working with these tools [from Reach Out and Read] is the most joyful part of their day,” said Gallagher. “Children are hope for the future and books help them grow.”
Amy Shriver, MD, an Iowa pediatrician and medical director of the Reach Out and Read Iowa Board, admitted that at first she just thought of the organization as a book drive. As Shriver got closer to the organization, though, she realized how she could utilize the book as a surveillance tool.
“At 6 months through 2 years, I hand the book to the patient and I can always tell which children are familiar with books by their responses,” she said. After learning about and implementing Reach Out and Read’s “model, observe, coach” methodology, Shriver said she was wowed by how much it helped families who weren’t reading to their child understand not only how to read with their children but why it’s so important.”
A 12-month-old excitedly holds a book.
Shriver said that her clinic has purchased more diverse books to meet the needs of its patient population and has partnered with local libraries and a science center to promote early brain development. The biggest change is that Shriver finds herself spending more time observing and talking about parent/child relationships since starting with Reach Out and Read.
Gallagher attributed the organization’s success to the massive amounts of research that back up the practices of the organization. “Our model isn’t just a nice thing to do,” Gallagher said. “Our practice has been proven to be effective and that’s why pediatricians continue to work with us. We’ve heard experts say that when they’re advocating for children’s health, they say ‘vaccines, sleep, and Reach Out and Read.’ “
Nineteen independent studies have been done profiling the work of Reach Out and Read since its inception. The research has shown that exposure to the organization results in parents reading more often to their children, higher language scores, as well as an improvement in clinic culture and clinician well-being.
In 2014, the American Academy of Pediatrics quoted the research of Reach Out and Read in its policy statement “Literacy Promotion: An Essential Component of Primary Care Pediatric Practice,” which argued that pediatrics should advocate for literacy from birth. The abstract of the study suggests that practicing pediatricians “advise all parents that reading aloud with young children can enhance parent–child relationships and prepare young minds to learn language and early literacy skills…provide developmentally appropriate books given at health supervision visits for all high-risk, low-income young children…partnering with other child advocates to influence national messaging and policies that support and promote these key, early shared-reading experiences.”
Adapting to Benefit Children and Parents
Reach Out and Read is not afraid to change with the times. When it began in 1989, there was no guidance for pediatricians on the importance of reading. Gallagher said that a common question Reach Out and Read received was, ‘Why not focus on physical health?’ The organization was more interested in the shift in pediatric practice overtime.
“We used to advocate starting off kids with books at 6 months old, but we always listen to the research,” Gallagher said. Now, the organization as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics advocate for beginning at birth. Other publications such as Green Child Magazine and Psychology Today speak of the importance of reading to babies still in the womb. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published an article in 2013 that suggests that third-trimester babies can not only pick up on language patterns, but also can identify words first heard in the womb.
“We aren’t afraid to adjust our practice if it will be more effective and beneficial for children,” Gallagher said, “We follow the research and share the work that we are doing. It’s important to stay as up to date as possible.”
Although the focus is largely on the health of children, the impact on parents is crucial as well. Gallagher described the books at the center of the mission as “a vehicle for bonding” between parents and their children. “The relationship-building we see between families is truly quite magical,” he said.
A father reads to his young child.
“Parents will say it’s a respite in their day,” Klass said of the daily practice of reading aloud. She recalled a memory of talking to a mother with two rowdy young boys, who would sit down and read to them, immediately calming them down
“When parents sit down to read to their children they don’t have to make anything up. It’s a script, it’s a prompt. You have this story, a picture to show. And kids get preferences.,” she said. “When they pick a book that they want you to read, they get to exercise some control. It’s a satisfying routine for parents. It helps open up the world to your child. And when kids come over and hand a book to you for you to read together, it’s them saying, ‘I like the way you look, sound, and interact with me when we do this together.’ “
A study from Ambulatory Pediatrics demonstrated that families working with Reach Out and Read were more likely to report reading aloud at bedtime, to read aloud three or more days per week, mention reading aloud as a favorite parenting activity, and own 10 or more children’s books. The American Journal of Diseases for Children, in a 1991 article co-authored by Needleman and Zuckerman, noted that the effects of Reach Out and Read were greater for those families who were receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children. In 2015, the Pew Research Center unveiled a report, “Parenting in America” on raising a child in the modern age, the first generation in American history expected, on average, to make less than their parents.
The report stated, “A broad, demographically based look at the landscape of American families reveals stark parenting divides linked less to philosophies or values and more to economic circumstances and changing family structure.”
As questions of access and privilege loom over the growing world of education, Reach Out and Read is trying to shorten the gap one book at a time. They are hoping, in time, that their model will be able to reach 90% of children in the United States and foster a relationship with reading and protecting children from toxic stress.
“Every time I look at a newborn, I think about the power of relationships,” said Shriver, the Iowa-based pediatrician. “I think about how much love passes between infants and their parents, and how shared reading is such a powerful way to show our children we love them. I know from my own experiences how good it feels to snuggle every night and read together. Those moments when the world falls away, and it’s just you, your child, and a book are magical.
“I want every parent and child to have that experience and create those loving memories. I want all children to feel safe, secure, and loved. I want every child to have the opportunity to use books as a mirror to see themselves and as a window to see the world.”
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