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BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Half of Maryland children under 5 have a book read to them daily.
Baltimore pediatricians gave parents tens of thousands of books in the past year as part of the city’s campaign to improve literacy among young and low-income children, city officials announced Wednesday.
The nationwide literacy program Reach Out and Read reports that parents who receive books and reading advice during their children’s checkups “are four times more likely to look at books with their children than parents who did not.”
“I think some people may think this is not the responsibility of pediatricians, but once they see the program work, that really changes,” Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein said.
Officials said 24 new pediatricians enrolled in the program citywide — on top of 26 who were already participating — and distributed 23,000 more books than the year before.
Sharfstein, along with Dr. Andres Alonso, chief executive officer of Baltimore schools, announced the results of the city’s yearlong Public Health Challenge to broaden participation in Reach Out and Read in a news conference at The Bel Air-Edison Family Health Center.
Alonso said the program focuses not only on distributing books but also on counseling parents how to encourage literacy as their children grow.
“It is very, very important that the entire community focus on what we know works — not only reading to children, but giving them autonomy over the reading process,” Alonso said.
According to a 1985 Commission on Reading study, reading aloud to children is the greatest determinant for literacy skills later in life.
The founder of Reach Out and Read, Dr. Barry Zuckerman, praised the program’s ability to break cultural and socioeconomic barriers to literacy.
“If there’s a book, a toddler is going to crawl up to his parents, arm outstretched with the book,” Zuckerman said.
Those wishing to donate to the campaign can contact the city’s health department at 410-396-9994.
jdavisson@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
9:49 AM MST on Sat., Dec. 29, 2007 re: "Literacy runs deep in D.C."
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Examiner Reader said:
I have read, and never believed, that a high percentage (9%, 12%?, I'm not sure what figure was quoted),of DC's population was illiterarte or functionally illiterate. Could someone please reconcile these statistics?
52 agree | 38 disagree
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