Help kids get head start on reading

As a local pediatrician working in the public-health system, I read “Read it and weep” [editorial, Opinion, June 1] with great interest and concern. The National Academy of Education estimates that 35 percent of children in the United States enter kindergarten unprepared to learn, most lacking the language skills that are the prerequisite of literacy acquisition.

My clinic, North Public Health, is excited to have recently joined more than 4,500 health centers committed to early literacy promotion by becoming a Reach Out and Read (ROR) site. ROR is a nationwide program that trains doctors and nurses to advise parents about the importance of reading aloud and to give books to children at pediatric checkups from the time they are 6 months old to when they are 5 years old.

Studies indicate increases in receptive and expressive language scores in preschoolers after they receive books, and their parents receive anticipatory guidance from ROR providers as compared with similar children who do not participate in ROR.

The state of Washington can do its part in expanding early literacy opportunities for infants and children by partnering with local schools and health-care providers to fund research-proven programs such as Reach Out and Read. The health-care providers at North Public Health Clinic have heard and responded to the early learning ‘clarion call’; please join us!

— Sheryl Morelli, Mercer Island