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News from Reach Out and Read Washington State
In This Issue
Legislators Soon to Release Budget Proposal
Just Fix It: Focus on Education From Birth
Babies Lip Read to Learn Language
ROR Oregon Launches
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About Us
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February 2012

Greetings!

 

Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future, and live in the only moment of time over which you have any control: now. 

-Denis Waitley 

 

For about 10 years my professional life has been focused on early learning in Washington state. I've been involved-- along with many of you-- in numerous planning processes from Kids Matter up through the Washington State Early Learning Plan, the Washington State Birth to Three Plan, and the Birth to Grade 12 Comprehensive Literacy Plan. It is clear that Washington needs "systems development" in early learning, and our recent Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant means we are being recognized for moving in the right direction. Reach Out and Read wholly supports the need to have both state and local early learning plans which take a comprehensive view of what young children and families need.

 

But at the same time, each day we are faced with the reality that children are being born-- and their brains are rapidly developing-- whether or not we have created the early learning systems they need. Each fall another cohort of children enters kindergarten, leaving that precious "birth through 5" period that we know is so vital to their future educational and life successes. And we know now that only about half of kids in Washington are "ready" for kindergarten.  We are, woefully, behind.

 

So the need to plan and be systemic runs smack into the need to act now. We cannot lose another generation of kids while we adults continue to "plan." So the quote for today sums this up well for me-- we must learn from the strengths of what we already have in Washington, as well as from our mistakes; we must thoughtfully and systematically plan for the future, creating goals with indicators we will hold ourselves accountable to; and we must act now-- because now is where the children are, and where we have the power to act.

 

This is what we do at Reach Out and Read, serving as many children and families as we can, as quickly and well as we can, using a systems-building approach. We have put great thought and strategy into building a statewide system, partnering with the Department of Early Learning and Thrive by Five Washington and local communities from the start. We have grown rapidly--now serving over 81,000 children and families--because kids can't wait! We have focused on quality, because children and families deserve a program that works. And we continuously work--alongside you--to ask how we can do more. Yes, we are tired.  But we are also energized. Amazing things can happen even in the worst of economic times. All children deserve a great start in life, and our collective future is dependent on the adults to make it so.  

 

The Early Learning Partnership (DEL, Thrive and OSPI) has just reaffirmed the importance of Early Literacy, naming it a 2012 Early Learning Plan Priority Strategy.

 

Thank you for your support for young children and families. Read on and think about where you can act now.

 

Jill Sells, MD and the Reach Out and Read Washington Team

 

....because Reading Is Doctor-Recommended 

 

LEGISLATORS SOON TO RELEASE BUDGET PROPOSALS 

Mom's Rising- Baby in Bath 

Please continue to urge legislators to fund Reach Out and Read. We are thankful that there are champions for early learning in both chambers and both parties, recognizing that an effective early learning system is vital to our state's future. Recently, legislators sent letters of support for Reach Out and Read's funding to House and Senate budget leaders. Reach Out and Read would like to thank Senators Nelson, Litzow, Frockt, Kohl-Welles, Rolfes, Harper, Kline, King and Conway; and Representatives Goodman, Pettigrew, Maxwell, Orwall, Roberts, Kenney, Pollet, Wylie, Billig, Kagi, Lytton and Haigh. We know there are other legislators actively supporting Reach Out and Read who may not have had the chance to sign these letters. We are thankful for the increasing support for Reach Out and Read among legislators. We always welcome learning about those who are supportive, so we can thank them.

 

Advocates are working hard to maintain state funding for early learning programs including Reach Out and Read. Please add your voice to this effort! "Don't let our legislators throw the baby out with the bath water!" Use the MomsRising link to send an email to legislators asking for their support. Start your weekend off right, help preserve early learning investments in the state budget.


JUST FIX IT: FOCUS ON EDUCATION FROM BIRTH 

 

Newspaper highlights need to invest in early learning as part of the education continuum. The Seattle Times editorial board urges the legislature to make no cuts in early learning. Washington Legislature should hold the line on early learning investment that pays dividends.

 

Columnist Jerry Large notes connection between parent support for early learning, and later educational outcomes. "The earlier the intervention, the better, which is why I've written often about early childhood-education programs, which can help children arrive at school ready to learn. Even better are programs that coach parents from their child's conception in how to support learning-the kinds of programs being damaged by budget cutting." Closing that performance gap in schools: Seattle Public Schools has discovered a performance gap between black children who speak English at home and those who don't.

 

A full page editorial lays out the needs and the opportunities in our educational system from early learning through higher ed. According to the Seattle Times, "Washington state's educational system is imperiled by the Legislature's failure to prioritize learning from cradle to college." Read Just Fix It: Losing kids on the path to prosperity. While a great start, the piece did not highlight the need to support learning in the first three years of life. Read Dr. Sells' letter to the editor: We need more investment in literacy programs. 

 

 BABIES LIP READ TO LEARN LANGUAGE

 

New research on infants further highlights the interactive nature of language development. Reach Out and Read doctors talk with families about how important the one-on-one interaction between parent and baby is for language development and bonding. When parents talk, sing, and hold children close while reading they are doing critical (and fun!) things to support early language and literacy development. Research from I-LABS at the University of Washington has helped confirm that babies learn from people, not from screens.  

 

Babies listen and watch as they learn, matching the sound they hear with the shape their lips must make. "It happens during that stage when a baby's babbling gradually changes into syllables and eventually into that first "mama'' or "dada.'' Florida scientists discovered that starting around age 6 months, babies begin shifting from the intent eye gaze of early infancy to studying mouths when people talk to them." Read more in The Boston Globe  Study: Babies lip-read when learning to talk. 

 

REACH OUT AND READ OREGON LAUNCHES 

Oregon Logo

 

Reach Out and Read Washington is pleased to welcome our partners here on the "best coast." Pediatricians in Washington have long been collaborating with our colleagues in Oregon, and so it is with delight that we share with you the start of a statewide Reach Out and Read effort in Oregon. Like Washington, there are some long time Reach Out and Read programs in Oregon, but before now there was no statewide effort to support them, and try to grow the program.

 

We've been pleased to work for years with Dr. David Willis and Ann Stone from the Oregon Pediatric Society to help move toward this day, where Reach Out and Read is being integrated into statewide early learning and health efforts. Thanks to Dr. Ellen Stevenson and Maria Sleeman for taking the lead on Reach Out and Read Oregon. Check out their launch on TV-Everyday Heroes: Books Make It Better.

 

REACH OUT AND READ WASHINGTON STATE ON FACEBOOK

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Reach Out and Read Washington State is on Facebook.  Please LIKE us.  If you could also suggest our Facebook page to your friends, that would go a long way in helping us spread our message about early literacy - thanks! 

ABOUT REACH OUT AND READ WASHINGTON STATE
 

Reach Out and Read helps prepare children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together.  Our evidence-based, proven program leverages the volunteer time of doctors to make literacy a standard part of well-child visits. Reach Out and Read supports parents as their child's first teacher. Through 129 programs in 29 counties, over 800 medical providers serve more than 81,000 children and families.

Founded in 2007, Reach Out and Read Washington State supports programs across the state.  We are part of the national, evidence-based Reach Out and Read Program, founded in 1989.
  


CONTACT INFORMATION:

Email - [email protected]

Telephone - 206-524-3579
Fax - 206-524-4768
  

Address - 155 NE 100th Street - Suite 301, Seattle WA 98125