GOLDSBORO -- Our children's outcomes are just as dependent upon community investments in early brain and child development as they are upon traditional health care. That is why I agreed to become the medical director for Reach Out and Read in North Carolina.
Our business world is all about investments. Invest a few dollars in an idea today and hope to recoup millions in the future. Recently, businesses were encouraged to invest in something a little different.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for a Competitive Workforce called on the business community to invest in early learning programs to bolster our nation's workforce development strategy. Our country is falling behind other countries, such as China, because we are not investing wisely in our future workforce.
Our early education system is in crisis. More than 34 percent of American children enter kindergarten without the basic language skills they will need to learn to read. In North Carolina, many third-grade students, between 30 percent and 40 percent, are not reading at grade level.
Despite all the dollars invested in remedial reading programs, those millions of children are unlikely to ever catch up. Reading difficulty increases the risk of school failure, dropping out, juvenile delinquency, substance abuse and teenage pregnancy. These factors perpetuate the cycles of poverty and dependency.
The problem is complex. The solution, however, begins with something simple: reading.
Substantial research confirms that reading to children improves their chances for good outcomes. One can predict that a child will experience successful learning in first grade if that child has optimal language skills at age 2.
Our medical practice chose to invest in Reach Out and Read when we learned that only about one-half of all parents actually read to their young children every day. Reading provides a very reliable way for parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters to teach language skills to young children. Reach Out and Read is a national, nonprofit, school-readiness organization that helps health care professionals like me spread this crucial message. The program provides funding for books, as well as early literacy training for health care professionals.
Our health care professionals have been participating in Reach Out and Read for almost 10 years. At each of a child's regular pediatric checkup between 6 months and 5 years of age, we give a new, developmentally appropriate children's book to take home and enjoy. We have books written in Spanish for our Latino families. We stock our waiting room with reading tips, literature-inspired posters and, of course, beautiful books. We encourage families to read aloud to their young children every day.
Just as we give prescriptions for medications, we also give prescriptions for children to read. These are prescriptions that really make a difference. The payoff on the investment in early brain and child development is clear.
Nationwide, there's a rate of return of 16 percent for high-quality prekindergarten made available to disadvantaged 3- and 4-year-olds, according to research cited in the Chamber's report. Families served by Reach Out and Read ( www.reachoutandread.org) read together more often. Their children enter kindergarten with larger vocabularies and stronger language kills.
Our families come to routine checkups looking forward to getting new books and building their in-home collections. Children actually ask me for books at every visit! They are quick to identify words on signs and enjoy spending time at the library. They're better prepared to achieve their potential and, in turn, help our nation achieve its potential.
And it all starts with the turn of a page.
David T. Tayloe Jr., M.D., is a former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He is with Goldsboro Pediatrics, PA.
