By Sharon Foster
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 2009 – “Reach Out and Read,” an early childhood literacy organization, has secured more than $1 million in Defense Department funding to expand its military initiative on military bases across the country.
The national, nonprofit program promotes early literacy during routine pediatric care by having volunteers read aloud in waiting rooms. Providers also offer tips to parents about the importance of reading aloud to children.
“Our
first military site started in 1999,” said Stacie D. Fredriksson,
manager of military programs and special initiatives at the Reach Out
and Read National Center. “Today, we present a unique opportunity to
support and strengthen even more military families with young
children.”
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, a member of
the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, called the
program “a proven success.”
“It helps doctors and nurses at
military treatment facilities encourage parents to read to their
children and gives them the tools to get started,” Reed said while
touring Naval Health Clinic in Rhode Island, a pilot site where he saw
the program in action. “I am particularly pleased to see the excitement
of the kids on base.”
The program was launched at the clinic
last fall. It, like all military bases participating in the program,
has created a literacy-rich waiting room, complete with child-sized
furniture and bookcases where trained volunteers model reading with the
children while they wait for appointments.
“I don’t think you
can say enough about the positive effects,” Anthony Amaio, a
pediatrician at the clinic, said. “When children and parents share
books that deal with deployment, it encourages discussion and provides
an opportunity to determine how well the child is dealing with their
parent’s absence. Reading books together that deal with deployment
opens up dialogue, and lets the child know that they’re not the only
one going through this.”
As part of the initiative,
pediatricians at 27 U.S. military bases across the country and three
outside the United States, send their young patients home with a free
book. Currently, children at the military sites receive the book,
“While You Were Away,” by Eileen Spinelli. The organization plans to
provide the book, “Over There,” by Dorinda Silver Williams, to all
Reach Out and Read sites.
The group’s military initiative is funded by the Defense Department and jointly administered with Strategic Resources Inc.
Related Sites:
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