Program Enlists Doctors to Promote Reading

July 5th, 2012

Educational research shows children benefit from early exposure to language and literacy. That idea has long been touted by teachers and early childhood experts. But Reach Out and Read, a national program with roots in Atlanta, enlists physicians to help spread that message. In the waiting room at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Hughes Spalding, Marilynn Ward reads a book to 4-year-old patient Deja Mapson. Ward oversees the Reach out and Read program there. The initiative recruits volunteers who read to children while they wait to see the doctor. And the doctors in the program promote reading as part of children’s overall health. Dr. Terri McFadden, a pediatrician at Children’s, says kids are given a literacy assessment as part of their checkup.

“You can look at fine motor skills: can the appropriate-aged child turn the pages of a paper book?” McFadden says, “You can even look at a 12-month old and whether or not they put the book in the right position. So, on many levels you’re able to assess the developmental status of the child.”

And, McFadden says, doctors also talk with parents about the importance of reading to their children, especially between the ages of 6 months and five years.

“It’s part of the medical model,” she explains, “So it’s not just someone saying, ‘Oh, I must do this so my child can be successful.’ It’s my doctor talking about reading and development within the context of my child’s health.”

And every child leaves with a book. Dr. Jay Burkelhamer is the former head of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a Reach Out and Read board member. He says the program’s message is simple, but it’s potential impact is profound.

“This is a sensible, straightforward approach, and we have science behind this,” Burkelhamer says, “We know the way the brain develops. We know the way the brain grows. We know that children have their most critical time periods in terms of learning during that zero to five period.”

Reach Out and Read serves more than 60,000 children in Georgia each year. Studies show children who participate in the program have better literacy and vocabulary skills than their peers who don’t. However, it’s hard to gauge the program’s broader impact because it doesn’t track retention rates. But, it is trying to expand. Ward, who heads the program at Children’s, says they served 1500 children last year. This year, she wants to double that number.