Reading together often with infants and young children strengthens their relationships with parents/caregivers at a critical time in child development, stimulating brain circuitry and early attachment. A positive parenting practice, shared reading helps build the foundation for healthy social-emotional, cognitive, language, and literacy development, setting the stage for school readiness and providing enduring benefits across the life course.
Pediatric physicians and advanced care providers have a unique opportunity to encourage parents/caregivers to establish routines and enjoy conversations around books and stories with their children beginning in infancy. Research has demonstrated that parents read and children learn when pediatricians offer literacy promotion as a practical and evidence-based primary prevention strategy in primary care practice to support early brain and child development. This supports families with a strengths-based approach, shaping a child’s life trajectory and helping mitigate stress and adverse experiences.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that pediatricians encourage shared reading beginning at birth and continuing at least through kindergarten as a strategy for supporting parents/caregivers, enhancing foundational relationships, promoting positive language-rich interactions, and helping families create a nurturing and stimulating home environment. The integration of literacy promotion into pediatric resident education is crucial to achieve that goal and thus is also essential. The AAP supports advocacy toward establishing public and private funding for diverse high-quality, developmentally appropriate children’s books in the languages preferred by the family to be provided at pediatric health supervision visits to all children, but especially to children living in underresourced communities. This statement is supported by multiple AAP policies and implementation resources, including the accompanying “Literacy Promotion: An Essential Component of Primary Care Pediatric Practice: Technical Report.”
Competing Interests
CONFLICT OF INTEREST DISCLOSURES: Dr Perri Klass has disclosed an uncompensated relationship with Reach Out and Read as a national medical director. Dr Anna Miller-Fitzwater has disclosed a financial relationship with Reach Out and Read as a principal investigator and an uncompensated relationship with Reach Out and Read as an advisory board member. Any other disclosures were reviewed and determined not relevant to the work related to the literacy promotion policy statement. Disclosures are reviewed and mitigated through a Conflict-of-Interest process that consists of reviewing pertinent information which is then used to decide what action is required to maintain content integrity. There may be instances where no action is necessary. This process has been approved by the AAP Board of Directors.
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