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Beyond Literacy: Shared Reading Starting in Infancy Offers Lifelong Benefits

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) encourages parents and caregivers to read aloud with their newborns and young children to promote early literacy and much more. In an updated policy statement, the AAP says it is an opportunity to foster loving, nurturing relationships during a critical time of brain development. It recommends that pediatricians support families with guidance and books at well-child visits.

The policy statement, "Literacy Promotion: An Essential Component of Primary Care Pediatric Practice," marks the first update in AAP recommendations since 2014. Given the large amount of research in this area, an accompanying new technical report reviews the evidence for shared reading to strengthen and nurture relationships, stimulate brain circuitry and create early attachments.

Using books to build bonds

"Reading together with young children weaves joyful language and rich interactive moments into the fabric of daily life," said Perri Klass, MD, FAAP, lead author of both statements. "As a pediatrician and parent, I suggest making books your bedtime routine, using them to connect and wind down after a busy day, and generally building them into life with a young child. It will strengthen the bonds that hold you together and build your child's developing brain."

The AAP emphasizes that, as a positive parenting practice, shared reading helps build the foundation for healthy social-emotional, cognitive, language and literacy development. This sets the stage for school readiness and providing enduring benefits across the life course.

"Turning the pages of a high-quality, print book filled with colorful pictures and rich, expressive language are best," said Dipesh Navsaria, MD, MPH, MSLIS, FAAP, a co-author of the technical report and chair of the Council on Early Childhood.

"While touchscreens and other electronic devices may be popular, they are typically passive or solitary experiences for children and do not offer the same benefits of interactivity and relationship-building," Dr. Navsaria said.

Why pediatricians promote shared reading during well-child visits

The AAP has recommended literacy promotion as an essential part of pediatric primary care since 2014. Activities that foster early relationships affect a young child's capacities for sustained attention, executive function, self-esteem and social behavior. These are all qualities that profoundly shape school readiness, success and thriving across the lifespan.

"Research tells us that reading proficiency by third grade is a significant predictor of high school graduation and career success," Dr. Klass said.

"Children who first encounter books in the arms of their parents, when they are very young, arrive at school associating books and reading with lap-time, a sense of security, interactions, stories, rhymes and entertainment, and above all with the beloved voices of the adults with whom they have those all-important early relationships," Dr. Klass said.

The AAP recommends that pediatricians:

  • Encourage shared reading beginning at birth and continuing at least through kindergarten, including, when possible, in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

  • Discuss with parents strategies for mutually joyful and developmentally appropriate reading activities. Encourage meaningful, language-rich engagement with books, pictures and the written word. Model positive shared-reading techniques.

  • Provide high-quality, developmentally and linguistically appropriate and culturally diverse books at health supervision visits for all young children. Emphasize the value of these books for all children and support their use to spark conversations about cultural pride, inclusion, belonging and equity.

  • Place the highest priority on offering books for children from low-income families who may lack access to them.

  • Support the AAP recommendation of limited screen use in early childhood with an emphasis on print books for young children. Digital books do not foster the equivalent parent-child interactions. If screen-based reading or audiobooks are used, recommend back-and-forth interactions with children around these digital activities to promote relational connection and enhance child learning.

  • Provide guidance and encouragement about reading aloud even in child well visits when books may not be readily available. This includes when primary care is provided virtually.
  • Advocate for public and private funding to provide diverse, high-quality, developmentally appropriate children's books at pediatric health supervision (wellness) visits to all children.

Both the policy statement and technical report will be published in the December 2024 issue of Pediatrics. Policy statements and technical reports created by AAP are written by medical experts, reflect the latest evidence in the field, and go through several rounds of peer review before being approved by the AAP Board of Directors and published in Pediatrics.

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Published
9/29/2024 12:00 AM
Source
American Academy of Pediatrics (Copyright @ 2024)
The information contained on this Web site should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.
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