Take Two Board Books, and Call Me in the Morning
Sari Feldman & Dr. Robert Needlman -- School Library Journal, 6/1/1999
Pediatricians are now prescribing what librarians have long known: read to children early and often |
Sari Feldman is director of community servidces at the Cuyahoga County (OH) Public Library. Dr. Robert Needlman is a pediatrician at the Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, OH.
Illustration by Brian Cronin
"She's six weeks old," says the proud mother, carrying her baby into the doctor's waiting room. A volunteer, who, at the moment, is reading to a group of nonwriggling, transfixed toddlers, explains she has a reading program that's just right for babies. The mother laughs nervously at the notion of reading aloud to a baby. Frankly, although she's far too tactful to say it, this reading-aloud business seems a little crazy to her. But a few minutes later, when her daughter is examined, the pediatrician -- who looks extremely sane -- gently talks to her about the importance of reading to her child and hands her a free board book to take home.
Fast forward eight months: the mother and daughter are leaving a library, when they happen to bump into the children's librarian who works in the clinic. "You can hardly see the baby, you have so many books in the stroller," says the librarian. The toddler is carefully turning the pages of a board book and babbling away.
"In the beginning we read books that the clinic gave us at checkup time," says the mother. "Believe me, we never missed an appointment. Soon, I wanted more books to read at home, and now I'm back in school again. It may sound silly, but reading to my baby has made reading more fun for me, too."
There is little doubt that pediatric literacy programs can change parents' thinking about reading aloud. A preliminary study (which has been replicated a number of times) has shown that parents whose pediatrician gives them a book are four times more likely to read aloud to their children; and parents who receive welfare are eight times as likely to read aloud.1 Since children of low-income families have more reading difficulties in school than their more affluent peers (often because of a lack of exposure to books), that's especially encouraging. Children who are regularly read to receive the stimulation and information they need to prepare them for school and, ultimately, for satisfying lives. Children's librarians, of course, have known this for a long time. Finally, the rest of us are beginning to catch up.
A Book a Day Won't Keep the Doctor Away
Healthy babies, good parenting, and family literacy are the goals of a new breed of literacy programs that is bringing together children's librarians, doctors, and community volunteers to promote the importance of reading aloud to children early and often. A key to these programs' success is the use of "well baby" visits to encourage parents to read to children at a time when lifelong literacy habits are being shaped and before most children have visited their local library or preschool.
Reach Out and Read (ROR), the model for many of these programs, began in 1989, with a team of pediatricians, children's librarians, and early childhood educators at the Pediatric Primary Care Center at Boston Medical Center. At heart, the program has three components: volunteers share books with children in the waiting room; pediatricians offer parents guidance on how books can enrich learning and lead to joyful parent-child interactions; and children six months of age and older receive free books during each well-child visit.
While health care professionals have launched most of the now more than 450 ROR-affiliated programs, some, like "Ready, Set, Read," a partnership between the Onondaga County Public Library, in Syracuse, NY, and the State University of New York Health Science Center, have been started by children's librarians.
Inspired by the success of ROR's cross-disciplinary approach, the Association for Library Service to Children created the "Born to Read" project, with support from the Prudential Foundation. Libraries have taken the lead in "Born to Read" programs by providing training manuals, tapes, and attractive incentives for parents who participate in pediatric clinics. (See "Born to Read" cover story: "Ooooh, Baby, What a Brain!" SLJ, July 1997, pp. 20-22.) On the national level, First Lady Hilary Rodham Clinton has launched the "Prescription for Reading Partnership." The Partnership brings together ROR, "Born to Read" programs and organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Association of American Publishers.
Getting into First Gear
Ideally, a pediatric literacy program would begin with a committed group of well-respected pediatricians (or family practitioners), children's librarians, community volunteers, and fundraisers. But typically the project is the brainstorm of one children's librarian or pediatrician who has little inkling of how to find community sponsors, obtain books, and recruit volunteer readers. What's the best way to get started?
Large hospitals are often helpful. They may have volunteer offices to help with recruitment, development offices to assist with grant proposals, public relations offices to get the word out, and even start-up funds to purchase giveaway books. But many pediatric literacy programs are started by small or private practices that, as the popular commercial exhorts, "just do it." Pulling together a coalition of like-minded people is often the best approach to getting a literacy project off the ground. For those seeking practical advice and guidance, the ROR National Center in Boston provides startup grants, technical assistance, and a free 100-page handbook with details of the program, handouts for doctors and volunteers, a sample grant form, and evaluation tools.
This Side of the Rainbow
Here, in Cleveland, at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, the children's librarian (Sari Feldman) trains new volunteer readers every other month. The training highlights ways to make books come alive for children and strategies to encourage children and parents to participate. The librarian supplies volunteers with a list of recommended children's books, lyrics to popular rhymes, and instructions for putting on finger plays. Volunteers choose the giveaway books with the help of children's librarians, who provide expert advice. The giveaway books are, of necessity, relatively inexpensive. The children's librarian also develops a collection of read-aloud books, which are stored at the clinic for use by volunteers.
The children's librarian may also play an important role in building strong coalitions with family service organizations or leaders in the community. In the greater Cleveland area, for example, children's librarians, pediatricians, community leaders, and local Kiwanis chapters have formed a citywide group that is coordinating literacy programs in eight clinics. At some clinics, the children's librarians use their expertise in fundraising and grant writing, provide up-to-date listings of read-aloud programs and cultural events at the library; distribute applications for library cards; and occasionally serve as volunteer readers.
Money and Other Potential Problems
Fundraising is always a challenge. At approximately $2.50 per discounted book, a busy clinic can easily spend $15,000 to $20,000 a year on giveaway books. Other potential expenditures, such as photocopying, posters, and books for the volunteers to read, are usually provided by in-kind contributions. While the primary responsibility for fundraising is frequently assumed by the medical clinics, libraries often play key supporting roles, and, in a few instances, have contributed funding for giveaway books.
Given the need for steady funding, it is surprising how many pediatric literacy programs have thrived through a combination of creative and persistent fundraising. What groups tend to support pediatric literacy programs? Booksellers and corporations, which require a literate work force, often contribute. Even grocery stores have been known to pitch in. One grocery chain, for example, donated a percentage of its orange-juice sales to our program, and another printed messages to solicit contributions on its bags. We've also found that local foundations (which exist in most medium-sized and large cities) are glad to provide partial funding for several years.
Free publicity from local news stories is invaluable in eliciting donations and attracting volunteers, and features on pediatricians prescribing books seem to make good copy. As a corollary, we've also found that politicians and celebrities are often eager to share a picture book -- and the accompanying media spotlight -- with a group of attentive children. Although we hate to admit this, working with doctors can be difficult.
Doctors often have very busy schedules and sometimes arranging a meeting or even coordinating a time to talk on the phone can be a true challenge. And those physicians who are excited about starting a reading program may still have to deal with resistance from their partners, who feel that the program may be too time consuming (or who simply don't get it). Doctors may also have unrealistic expectations of the librarian, thinking they're going to provide all of the volunteer readers, gift books, and waiting room collections.
That said, persistence on the part of the children's librarian can often pay off. (See "How to Nab a Doctor" for some practical advice.) And more and more doctors are getting excited about the benefits of reading to young children early. The American Academy of Pediatricians, for example, has a very active program called CATCH (Community Access to Child Health), which supports community-based initiatives, including ROR.
If You Give a Baby a Board Book...
There's an immediate, tangible payoff from reading aloud to children: the noise level drops in waiting rooms, the television is turned off, children and parents are calmer, and there is something positive to do during the often long wait to see the pediatrician. More important, books, and the love of reading, become part of more and more homes.
The gift books are one small step to surrounding children with literature, and the library's involvement provides an ongoing opportunity to promote public library resources. Discussing with parents or care givers the importance of reading aloud to children and providing them with high- quality books is an important message for all families, not just low-income or at-risk populations.
Books provide pediatricians, volunteer readers, and librarians with excellent vehicles for talking to parents about child development and parenting. Discussing how a bedtime story can relax children before sleep or observing a toddler's fine-motor skills as he or she turns the pages of a board book all fit within a well-child check-up and a parent's information needs. Praising parents on their alert, bright, book-loving children is really a way of encouraging parents to continue language-development and reading- readiness activities with their babies, toddlers, and pre-scholars. It's also a great way to make the love of books and reading a part of more and more homes.
1. Needlman, R., L. Fried, D. Morle, S. Taylor, and B. Zuckerman. "Clinic-Based Intervention to Promote Literacy." American Journal of Diseases of Children 145 (1991): 881-884.
For more information, call or write...
Born to Read
Association for Library Service to Children
American Library Association
50 E. Huron Street
Chicago, IL 60611
(800) 545-2433, ext. 1398
Reach Out and Read
Boston Medical Center
South Block High Rise 5th Floor
1 Boston Medical Center Place
Boston, MA 02118
(617) 534-5701
How to Nab a Busy Doctor
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