Reach Out and Read
Reach Out and Read (ROR) is a national program that supports children’s language and literacy development, which is essential for young children to be on schedule with their learning progress before they begin school. Studies have shown that promoting pediatric literacy leads to significant improvements in preschool language scores – a good predictor of later literacy success.
ROR’s three main components:
- Medical and health professions students advise parents on the importance of reading aloud to young children – including age-appropriate strategies for enjoying books with infants and toddlers. As a part of this component, the student volunteer fills out a ROR Prescription for reading aloud.
- Children receive a free book in the waiting/reading area or the exam room from a MEDiC volunteer.
- Volunteers read aloud to children in the waiting room, modeling this behavior for parents.
The goal of ROR volunteers is to provide a positive reading experience for the children and to model reading aloud for parents. Some parents may have never seen good reading aloud techniques themselves.
Volunteer readers are often the first face of ROR that parents and children see when they arrive for their visit. By listening to stories, children learn that they enjoy books, and that being read to is a treat - a message that should be reinforced in the medical visit. By watching volunteer readers with children, parents learn how reading aloud works and see how much their child enjoys the experience. Hopefully, the parent will repeat this activity at home!
Currently, this program operates at the Southside and Salvation Army Clinics. For more information, please contact Nicole Jaeger, ROR Coordinator or Dipesh Navsaria, ROR director.