Kari KurjiakaSeptember 30, 2024
Pediatricians play key role in early literacy, creating family bonds through reading.
Editor’s note: The 2024 AAP National Conference & Exhibition is taking place from Sept. 27-Oct. 1 in Orlando, Fla. For more coverage, visit https://bit.ly/AAPNationalConference2024 and follow @AAPNews on LinkedIn, Facebook and X.
Moving to New York City as a 16-year-old soon-to-be mother was overwhelming for Claudia Aristy as she left her home and family in the Dominican Republic to begin a new life in a new country.
Aristy’s grandmother brought her to Bellevue Hospital for prenatal care. At the time, she didn’t realize how important the institution would become for her and her family — and it all started with a good book.
Aristy shared her story during Sunday’s plenary session “Turning Pages Together: How Pediatricians Rewrote the Book on Early Literacy” at the AAP National Conference & Exhibition. Joining Aristy was Perri Klass, M.D., FAAP, who spoke about the importance of early literacy promotion in primary care.
At Aristy’s son’s six-month checkup, his doctor gave the family a copy of the book “¡Sonríe!,” which means “Smile” in Spanish. Aristy expressed concerns that she couldn’t pay for the book, but her doctor said it was free because of the Reach Out and Read program, which was founded in 1989 to help families make reading a part of their routines and supply books for families. The organization now has 6,200 program sites that provide 7.1 million books each year.
“The doctor reinforced the importance of enjoying the book in the language I felt comfortable with and said it was a great way to teach Alejandro about my culture while we bonded and enjoyed reading the book together,” Aristy said. “I discovered the magical world of children’s books through the ones we got from our pediatrician and the ones we borrowed from the library.”
During her initial visits, Bellevue Hospital staff encouraged Aristy to complete her high school education and pursue a college degree. The support she received for herself and Alejandro helped shape their lives in ways she never imagined. Aristy now serves as director of the H.E.L.P. Project and Children of Bellevue’s Reach Out and Read program.
Dr. Klass, a professor of journalism and pediatrics at New York University, helped found the Reach Out and Read program at Bellevue 30 years ago. She stressed the importance of early child literacy and how reading to a young child can help strengthen bonds between growing families.
“Sometimes, I stand in that waiting room at Bellevue and I see families going out toward those crowded subways carrying those beautiful colors of books, and I can see that the whole map of our city is brighter and more colorful,” Dr. Klass said.
During the plenary, Dr. Klass announced the release of the AAP policy statement Literacy Promotion: An Essential Component of Primary Care Pediatric Practice, which marks the first update in AAP recommendations since 2014. Dr. Klass is a lead author of the policy and an accompanying technical report.
“Pediatricians have always understood that for children to thrive, you have to support their families and that the threats to their health include those infectious diseases, but they also include the social factors that can get in the way of learning, growing and flourishing,” Dr. Klass said. “What we come to understand is that what we’re really doing here is helping parents with the interactions and the words and stories and images and the back and forth and the joy and positive interactions and experiences which can shape a child’s life trajectory.”