The 1.25 CME course is an excellent, self-guided training tool that incorporates several video vignettes of experienced primary care providers modeling Reach Out and Read best practices right in the exam room.  This material will be helpful both to new providers beginning to incorporate Reach Out and Read into their practices, and also to experienced providers looking to find new ways to use books for developmental surveillance or to offer more cogent anticipatory guidance. Child healthcare providers can leverage these techniques to effectively change reading behaviors in the home and to help our most vulnerable children build their foundational literacy skills.

The new course is available at www.myror.org and includes:

·         A review of evidence-based strategies to enhance development of language and other skills that promote reading success.

·         Support for the importance of reading aloud and print-rich environments to the development of early literacy skills.

·         Recognition of the provider's ability to influence parents' attitudes and behaviors around reading aloud.

·         Strategies to evaluate and assess a child's developmental progress based on the child's interactions with a book.

·         Methods to combine early literacy promotion with other anticipatory guidance around development and language, stimulation and interaction, and using books to build daily routines and bedtime rituals.

A strong evidence base distinguishes Reach Out and Read from other early literacy interventions.  Fourteen peer-reviewed studies show that if the Reach Out and Read model is done with fidelity, we can increase the amount of time parents read to their children. Remarkably, our most vulnerable children will also make a six-month developmental gain in word recognition and vocabulary by age 3.  It is so important that the program model be fully implemented so we can ensure that our children receive these amazing benefits. 

Each provider needs personal login information to access this training, please contact our new Program Director (Christine.Garber@reachoutandread.org) if you need a personal password. 

Sincere Regards,

Cathy

Dr. Catherine Wiley

Connecticut Medical Director

Please log in to www.myROR.org  to submit your latest progress report! As you know, your Program will receive its automatic shipment of books (your "sustainability award") ONLY IF your report is filed on time. The report covers the time period July 1-December 31, 2010. Information we need? How many books you've distributed, how many well child visits, dollar amounts you've contributed to your Program or were donated to it, etc.

Please contact christine.garber@reachoutandread.org or 203-980-6430 with any questions. 

One of my top priorities as the Connecticut Program Director is to ensure that our Programs are delivering the highest quality Reach Out and Read Program possible.  Many components define program quality. I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on your own program in respect to each of these components:  

Books:  Having the age-, culturally-, and developmentally-appropriate books to hand out at the beginning of every well- child visit is key to your Program's success.

Currently, Connecticut Programs receive books ("sustainability awards") twice a year from Reach Out and Read National. Thanks to our partnership with Scholastic, Inc., these books are purchased at a greatly reduced cost via a bulk buy and delivered right to your door! However, in order to receive these high quality books, your bi-annual progress reports must be completed on time.  The January progress report is due by March 31 and the July progress report will be due by September 30.  

Anticipatory Guidance: Reach Out and Read is not just a book giveaway program! We are educators and change agents.  By offering crucial anticipatory guidance to the parents of our patients, we are not only educating them about the importance of reading aloud to their children, but also are helping to change the reading behaviors within the household. This guidance is crucial and should be delivered at every well-child visit. This is why training is so important, so please do take the new online CME course as soon as possible. It can be found at www.myROR.org and comes with 1.25 CMEs.

Literacy-Rich Waiting Rooms:  Providing a model of a literacy-rich environment helps to educate your families about the importance of books and reading in everyday life.  Gently-used books in the waiting room, literacy-themed posters/pictures on the wall, local library information available to take home, and waiting room volunteers reading to youngsters as they wait are all superb additions to your waiting area. Girl Scout troops are excellent resources for refurbishing and replenishing your waiting rooms so don't be afraid to reach out to them, or to any others in your community for their help.

Provider Training:  Provider training is essential and is the backbone of any Reach Out and Read Program.  Dr. Cathy Wiley, our Connecticut Medical Director for Reach Out and Read, discusses the importance of this training in her article.  I strongly encourage you to read it in its entirety. Please find the new Reach Out and Read provider training CME course at www.myROR.org. If you need your personal login information, please email me at Christine.Garber@reachoutandread.org.

Site Coordinator Training:  Reach Out and Read offers a monthly Webinar for our Site Coordinators.  The webinar is offered on the third Thursday of each month from 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM.  I encourage all Site Coordinators to contact Abigail.Dalton@reachoutandread.org to sign up for a session. Turnover happens, so if you are new to Reach Out and Read, please call in!

(Above photo is from Mansfield Pediatrics.  Kudos to a wonderful Reach Out and Read display!)

Thanks Borders!

Despite the closing of six

Borders Bookstores in Connecticut, those remaining have become strong supporters of Reach Out and Read.  Four Borders Bookstores have selected Reach Out and Read as their spring book drive recipients!  In these tight economic times their support is more welcome than ever.

During the spring book drive, which runs during both March and April, cash register staff will invite every customer to donate a book to Reach Out and Read Connecticut.  Book suggestions and the names of area local Reach Out and Read Programs will be displayed at the register to assist the customers.

Borders has also invited us to set up a table at these four locations to educate their customers about our program: Meriden, Fairfield, and Farmington (both a Westfarms Mall and at 1600 South East Rd).

·         My daughter and I were at the Borders in Meriden on Saturday, March 12 from 12:00 -2:00 PM for a story time and an information table with all sorts of Reach Out and Read goodies. 

·         Sandra Sottile, Pediatric RN, from Charter Oak Health Center in Hartford, will be at the Meriden store on Saturday, April 23 from 12:00 -2:00 PM for more of the same.  Thank you Sandra!

With four locations, I would love to have additional representation.  Please let me know if you can volunteer! We need to spread the word!

Dr. Cathy Wiley, Reach Out and Read Connecticut Medical Director, and I recently attended Reach Out and Read's annual "Capitol Hill Day" to lobby for continued federal funding for our Programs across the country.  On Thursday, March 4, over 100 Reach Out and Read state Program directors and medical directors -- representing 40 states -- convened in our nation's capital.  We were a force to be reckoned with!

Impressively, 300 meetings were held with members of congress and/or their staffers. Dr. Wiley and I met with staffers from both Senator Blumenthal and Senator Lieberman's offices.  After those morning visits we set off to the House of Representatives where we met with staffers from four of our five Connecticut Representatives: Courtney, Himes, Murphy and Larson.

With our federal funding in jeopardy, our message that day was simple and direct: please advocate for the restoration of our federal funding by signing onto the Prescribe a Book Act (PABA).  Dr. Wiley relayed reading-related stories from her exam rooms and we encouraged the legislators to personally champion our cause, noting that crucial interventions in the first years of life help save resources later on, and children who enter school ready to learn do better in school!

An enormous thank you goes out to Representative Joe Courtney and Senator Richard Blumenthal, who both signed on as co-sponsors of PABA!  Our hope is that our remaining Connecticut legislators will follow suit. You can help by calling your Congressman's Washington office to urge them to sign on too, as they need to hear from their constituents!

We also invited each legislator to visit a Reach Out and Read Program when next on recess.  Before my feet even landed on Connecticut soil, Rep. Courtney's aide contacted me to schedule a visit for the Congressman at Day Kimball Hospital in Putnam in April.  Representative Himes' aide is looking into dates for his Site visit in May.  I am hopeful that other representatives will accept our invitations as well!