Reach Out and Read (ROR) is a national non-profit organization that promotes early literacy by giving new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud in pediatric exam rooms across the nation.
Doctors and nurses know that growing up healthy means growing up with books. The ROR program provides the tools to help promote children's developmental skills and later school success.
(ROR) is a national pediatric early literacy program. The mission of Reach Out and Read is to make literacy promotion a standard part of pediatric primary care, so that children grow up with books and a love of reading. Reach Out and Read trains doctors and nurses to advise parents about the importance of reading aloud and to give new books to children at pediatric well visits (check-ups) from 6 months to 5 years of age, with a special focus on children growing up in poverty. By building on the unique relationship between parents and medical providers, Reach Out and Read helps families and communities encourage early literacy skills so children enter school prepared for success in reading.
The Reach Out and Read Model
- In the exam room at a ROR site, the pediatrician or nurse practitioner encourages parents to read aloud to their young children and offers age-appropriate tips.
- At well-child visits (check-ups), the pediatrician or nurse practitioner gives every child 6 months to 5 years of age a new, developmentally and culturally appropriate children's book to take home and keep.
- In the waiting room, displays, information and gently used books create a literacy rich environment. Where possible, volunteer readers engage the children with books, modeling for the parents the pleasures-and techniques-of reading aloud.
The Importance of Books and Reading Aloud
The 1985 National Commission on Reading reported that the single most important predictor of a child's later reading success is being read to early in life. Reading aloud to babies and young children enhances language and cognitive development and helps them learn.
