Reading Added to Check-list for Pediatricians?

Where is the one place most children go before they enter 1st grade? 

a. Pre-K

b. Kindergarten

c. The doctor's office

If you answered (c). the doctor's office, you are correct!

From Learning Matters: WATCH: Reach Out and Read

Featured on PBS News Hour, John Marrow introduces us to a new breed of pediatrician: part doctor, part teacher. Pediatricians at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan have been running a nation-wide program called Reach Out and Read. Reach Out and Read, which was founded 23 years ago by a group of doctors and early childhood educators, is an evidence-based nonprofit that promotes early literacy and school readiness and gives new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud. By building this relationship between parents and their medical providers, children can develop critical early reading skills as early as 6 months. Reach Out and Read helps children from low-income and/or immigrant families to increase skills and scores in language development assessments, thus reducing the gap for low-income children at school entry. 

Its always great to hear about initiatives like this in NYC that support the development and early education of children through reading books. Especially because reading and providing books to children is a key element of our program at HMESF; we too believe that interacting with books at early ages is critical for children's development. 

To find a Reach Out and Read program near you, check out their website: http://www.reachoutandread.org/resource-center/find-a-program/