Integrating reading aloud into pediatric care.
A world where every child has the relationships essential to learn and thrive.
Reach Out and Read seeks to strengthen all families with young children through guidance from medical clinicians about nurturing relationships through shared reading.
The Reach Out and Read Model
Doctors, nurse practitioners, and other medical professionals incorporate Reach Out and Read’s evidence-based, three-part model into regular pediatric checkups:
- Trained doctors and nurses speak with parents about the importance of reading aloud and building bonds, starting in infancy.
- At each regular checkup from birth through 5 years of age, the child receives a new book to take home.
- Many Reach Out and Read program sites create literacy-rich environments that include gently-used books for waiting room use, and some provide volunteer readers to model for parents the techniques of reading aloud to young children.
As a result of this three-part intervention at the doctor’s office, parents are empowered to read to their children more often at home, building nurturing, language-rich routines.
The time spent reading translates into quantifiable gains: Our evidence base of more than 20 peer-reviewed research studies shows that during the preschool years, children served by Reach Out and Read score three to six months ahead of their non-Reach Out and Read peers on vocabulary tests. These early foundational language skills help propel children on a path of success when they enter school.
Reach Out and Read Texas is a part of the national Reach Out and Read network with 38 affiliates, serving more than 4 million children and their families, with a special emphasis on serving those in low-income communities.
In June 2014, the American Academy of Pediatrics declared literacy promotion to be an “essential component of pediatric care” for all children, referencing Reach Out and Read as an effective intervention to engage parents and prepare children to achieve their potential in school and beyond.
Impacts by the Numbers
Over 250,000+ children served annually in Texas
Reach Out and Read Texas’ 1000 clinicians promote language building and early literacy with parents of our youngest residents. At well child visits, clinicians share more than 315,000 books annually in 220 pediatric clinics, and support parents to be their children’s first teacher.