PerspectiveBooks and Reading: Evidence-Based Standard of Care Whose Time Has Come
Section snippets
Infant Brain Readiness
A child’s every day experience, including being read to, shapes early brain development and behavior. Language development, which is the core of early literacy, depends on this sensory and perceptual development, with the discrimination of speech sounds during infancy serving as a base for later language and learning. Brains of newborn infants are sensitive to all language, especially in the first 6 months. It is well documented that newborns and even fetuses know their own mothers voice:
The Birth of an Intervention: Development and Implementation of ROR
In 1989, a clinic-based literacy promotion model with 3 components was developed by pediatricians Barry Zuckerman and Robert Needlman and early childhood educators Jean Nigro, Kathleen MacLean, and Kathleen Fitzgerald-Rice at Boston City Hospital (now Boston Medical Center). From the beginning, 2 key components—providing advice about the benefits of reading aloud to young children and giving a book to the child, both done by the pediatric clinician as part of well-child care—remain unchanged. A
Best Practice in Pediatrics: Adequacy of Evidence
The preponderance of information suggests to us that promoting reading aloud and giving books to high-risk parents meets criteria for evidence-based medicine, as it is broadly defined: integrating individual clinical expertise and the best external evidence.68 In the case of ROR, the best external evidence is consistent and generated from different independent investigators who used different outcomes and diverse populations, including masking to assess language and home environment. In
Conclusion
ROR is recommended in Bright Futures but not designated as best practice for child health providers, even though ROR is widely practiced and is 1 of 3 evidence-based health promotion strategies (the others are vaccination and selective injury prevention). This raises the question of what it takes for an innovation to rise to a level of evidence-based care that is supported by the appropriate professional bodies. ROR is supported by positive evidence, acceptance by physicians and parents, and
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A Mixed-Methods Investigation Examining Site-Level Variation in Reach Out and Read Implementation
2023, Academic PediatricsCitation Excerpt :ROR is notable among pediatric primary care innovations for the scale it has achieved and the evidence it has accumulated. ROR's rapid uptake over its 30-year history reflects how it responds to a clear need to support child development that resonates with practitioners across the US.19 During this time, several studies have documented ROR's effectiveness, building strong practice-based evidence for this innovation.20-23
Reach Out and Read Implementation: A Scoping Review
2023, Academic PediatricsEarly Literacy Promotion Using Automated Hovering Among Young Minority Children
2023, Academic PediatricsPromoting Early Literacy Using Digital Devices: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
2021, Academic PediatricsSchool Readiness Coaching in the Pediatric Clinic: Latinx Parent Perspectives
2021, Academic PediatricsPromoting early reading in a social exclusion district in primary care
2021, Anales de Pediatria