Programs such as Reach Out and Read cannot integrate literacy and healthcare alone. With Fewer than half (48%) of poor children ready for school at age 5, and only 75% of children from moderate- or high-income households prepared for Kindergarten (Williams et al., 2019), additional comprehensive interventions are necessary to ensure all children have the literacy skills to thrive physically, emotionally and academically.
READING AND LITERACY IN THE HEALTHCARE DOMAIN Although the role of pediatricians in literacy and education remains largely undefined. the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has addressed the importance of literacy. They recommend that providers promote early literacy development beginning in infancy and continuing until “at least the age of kindergarten,” and that providers discuss early childhood education options with their patients’ parents to promote higher-quality education (Council on Early Childhood, 2014). The AAP advises that physicians discuss specific strategies with parents and caregivers, including encouraging reading aloud with young children, discussing developmentally appropriate shared-reading activities, and providing developmentally appropriate books at health supervision visits for all "high-risk", low-income young children. However, there are no existing guidelines for pediatricians to assess literacy or to consider literacy-rich environments as an indicator for children’s physical or mental health (Council on Early Childhood, 2014). Numerous studies have examined the potential for instituting literacy interventions in pediatric healthcare settings. In one study of families with children between six and 38 months of age, researchers used a child-centered literacy orientation survey to measure literacy-promoting behaviors at the family level and to examine the impact of providing relevant information on literacy promotion and children’s books during pediatric primary-care visits (High et al., 2000). Families were asked to name their children’s favorite activities, to name their favorite activities to do with their children, and how many nights each week they shared books with their child before bedtime. Upon answering, they were assigned a score and placed in a research group. At the conclusion of the study, the results were stunning: families receiving the treatment intervention had five times the literacy orientation scores of the control group , and children 18 months or older whose parents participated in the intervention had higher language scores than their peers (High et al., 2000).
READING FOR LIFE: THE IMPACT OF YOUTH LITERACY ON HEALTH OUTCOMES 11
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