Reach Out and Read Lancaster County

Program Overview

Because language skills are critical for both school readiness and psychosocial and emotional adjustment, problems with language and communication can set a child back. Early intervention is important because it can have a significant impact on child outcomes. If a child has not learned language skills by about 8 years of age their chances for success in life rapidly drops; this includes being healthy, having self-esteem and becoming a contributing member of society. Reading regularly with young children stimulates brain development and strengthens parent-child relationships at a critical time in child development., which, in turn, builds language, literacy and social-emotional skills. Despite all of the benefits of reading aloud, surveys show that only a half of parents read to their young children daily and less than 10 percent read to their children from infancy. Pediatric providers have a unique opportunity to encourage parents to engage in this important and enjoyable activity with their children beginning at birth. We are an early literacy program that reinforces the parent's role as the first teacher by building on the unique relationship between parents and medical providers to develop these critical early literacy skills and promote strong parent-child bonds from birth. Nationally those families that participate in our program are 2.5X more likely to read to their children, 2.5X more likely to enjoy reading together or have books at home, children's language ability improves, children's language development is improved by 3-6 months and parents are 2X more likely to read to their children more than three times a week.

Student and Volunteer Success Stories

A quote from a couplet nurse for a program recently implemented:

"I have loved books ever since I was a baby--my mother recalls that I would look at books in my crib each morning before I would call out for her. She read aloud to me every day and I passed my love of reading on to my children the same way. It's always been a dream of mine to promote literacy and start a library for each newborn at WBH. Working with Reach Out and Read helped me realize the dream of every baby getting a book for their personal collection. The first day we started
giving out the books, August 3, 2020, I had a very moving experience. One young father immediately took the book
and started reading it to his new baby girl, his first child. I was so excited watching him read to her, I didn't look at the mother of the baby until he was finished. When I did look over at her, I saw she was crying—tears of joy at hearing him read to their daughter for the first time. I think giving a book and encouraging parents to read to their newborn is as important as giving a thermometer and teaching parents how to take their newborn's temperature. The overall health of our families, and thus
society, will be deeply enriched by this program in ways we never imagined."