Reach Out and Read

**Reach Out and Read was suspended in March 2020 due to COVID-19**

Reach Out and Read gives young children a foundation for success by incorporating books into pediatric care and encouraging families to read aloud together.

Reach Out and Read doctors and nurse practitioners have the greatest access to families with children in the early years, when it counts – more than 91 percent of children under the age of six attend routine pediatric visits at least once a year.

We encourage parents to read aloud daily to their infants, toddlers and preschoolers, as a simple and effective way of fostering nurturing, language-rich family interactions that support brain development and provide a foundation for success.

A Unique Model
At more than 10 routine health checkups from infancy through 5 years, Reach Out and Read-trained providers:

Talk with parents about how important it is to read aloud and engage with their young children
Demonstrate how best to look at books and talk about the stories with their infants, toddlers and preschoolers
Encourage them to cuddle up and read together at home and build routines around books
And then give a new book to the child to take home and keep
At the end of the program, every child has a home library of books, each given with the advice to parents that they are their child’s first and most important teacher

It Deliver’s Results
Reach Out and Read is committed to the evaluation of our impact. The program is evidence-based, supported by independent, published research studies showing that the children we serve: