Goodreads Voice: Reach Out and Read
By Goodreads Staff | Published Apr 02, 2012 03:10pm
A pediatrician uses a new book to assess developmental milestones during a checkup.
Reach Out and Read hooks families on reading in an unexpected place: the doctor's office. Working with medical practitioners, the nonprofit helps create a literary-rich environment in the patient waiting room. In the exam room, medical professionals also alert parents to the vital developmental importance of reading aloud to their kids. Lastly, every child between six months and five years old is given a brand-new children's book to take home and keep. Founded by a group of pediatricians and early childhood educators in 1989, Reach Out and Read partners with medical providers in all 50 states and serves 3.9 million families annually, with a focus on low-income communities.
Tags: 2012-april and do-good
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I did an event for Reach Out And Read in February and it was fabulous! What a wonderful organization!
The Reach Out and Read program (ROR) at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is a beautiful thing. I worked for ROR at CHOP, where my job was to select the books (I would read them all) and distribute them to the Pediatricians at the CHOP Primary Care Centers. The faces of the children would absolutely light up when they received their new books. Helping children develop a love for reading (early) is important.
Reading aloud is a hidden treasure I wish I had known earlier in life, when my child was a baby, then a toddler. BUT, I am lucky my wife did and read aloud to her. The effect I witnessed on her is astounding! Today my daughter is an avid teenager reader. Nice to hear that ROR exists.
Maine has a program called Raising Readers and my children got books at their well child visits when they were little. It was always the best part of going to the doctor!
What a great program. Our local county health clinic hands out free book coupons for the library used book store with each child visit, and has volunteers from the library read to children at the clinic. Onward, reading!
Shelli wrote: "We are going to be doing this in our pediatric clinic. I'm excited to get started with it!"You will love it. It's a terrific organization and so wonderful to make books available to children.
When I was a kid I loved the Mickey Mouse sorcerer book, and my pediatrician had one in the waiting room. My poor mother would have to keep reading it to me when we went there lol
with the group in Kansas City. As they say, "reading is the best medicine"!