Reach Out and Read: Doctors promote reading as part of well-child care

A national literacy program wants to enlist more family physicians in its effort to distribute books to children.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. July 16, 2007.

Family physician Suki Tepperberg, MD, MPH, has a prescription to help her young patients learn the value of reading: She hands them a book.

"It's not just a giveaway. It has an important message with it: that learning to read is fun and very important for children," said Dr. Tepperberg, who practices in Dorchester, Mass. "We want them to love being with a book."

Dr. Tepperberg is among thousands of physicians taking part in Reach Out and Read, a national program that promotes literacy by giving books to children in the exam room. Doctors advise parents about the importance of reading aloud to children.

Since physicians started Reach Out and Read in Boston in 1989, doctors have handed out 20 million books to children ages 6 months to 5 years old in low-income families. One book is distributed at well-child visits, with the goal of giving children 10 developmentally and culturally appropriate books by the time they start kindergarten.

"Parents love it, the children love it and doctors love it," said Barry Zuckerman, MD, CEO and board chair of Reach Out and Read and professor and chair of the department of pediatrics at the Boston University School of Medicine. "It makes children and parents smile."

The program has trained more than 46,000 physicians, nurses and other health care professionals. Many of the physician participants are pediatricians, but the nonprofit organization is encouraging more family physicians to get involved.

"Our goal is to reach all of the high-risk children in this country, and family physicians take care of a good part of them," Dr. Zuckerman said.